Acceptance #WOIW With A Little Secret...

Wow!!! What a word!
Kraaft Shack has WOIW which means: "Word Of Inspiration Wednesday" and this is the word for this week: ACCEPTANCE

Boy!!! that word got stuck on my head :)

I'm going to let you in a secret of mine... for me the hardest thing through out my life has been to accept myself :/
that's right! believe it or not, that has been my reality for many years. Until, thanks to my husband that taught me that I have to take care of myself and be who I truly am.

For years now I've been on the search of...

who am I really?

what do I like?

what would I do if...?

By reading lots of self help and self esteem books I have learned to accept who I am, to accept myself and now... I am SO HAPPY!!!

I keep on reading self help books just because I always like Psychology.
I like the idea of self grow; I love to learn and I think I always will.

Anyways... for about a year now I've been watching people how they do art journaling and for a few months now I started exploring it myself.

Even though I like a lot, I could even say I love it, I love playing with the colors and techniques and experimenting with different things I realized that I miss Scrapbooking which I got into since my older daughter (now 20) was a baby.

As always life takes place and you do what you like less and less, I took the route of doing digital scrapbooking for a while there, since I moved and couldn't get to my scrapbook supplies, but now that I have ALMOST everything in place I want to go back to it.

It seems like traditional scrapbooking is dying but I miss it and I am going to do it!
You see, that word comes to my head again... ACCEPTANCE

I have to accept that I am not an expert art journaler like I would like to be.
I have to accept that I want to keep on scrapbooking and I LOVE IT! even though technology is taking over.
I have to accept that I LOVE mixed media also even though I don't do it as often as I want to.

ACCEPTANCE  is really going to take me farther than what I thought!

THANK YOU SO MUCH for putting this word out, is like it was meant to be for me. At the same time that my prayers are asking for clarity in my life and some other things that I am trying out :)

I am a Cosmetologist.
I am a Preschool Teacher.
I am an Artist in my own way.
I am a Mother.
I am a Wife.
I am a learner.
I am a Writer (sorry this is long)
I am a Daughter.
I am a lot more things...

I am who I am, this is my ACCEPTANCE :)

DIY Bookmark From Recycled Pasta Box :)

I made a bookmark from a recycled box :)

I took a pasta box

and started by sanding it

with regular sand paper from the hardware store

Then I started adding some acrylic paint

using a sea sponge

letting the colors dry for a little bit in between layers

that way they don't mix that much and make mud

after all the paints were dry

I stamped the letters with some foam letters I have

and of course I couldn't leave the other side empty

so I did some collage by cutting out a magazine 

and adding some white paint to make the flower

I wasn't sure the other side was going to come out right

so I didn't take pictures of the step by step for this side 

the flowers are made with white acrylic paint and a pencil eraser

and the hears are a stamp I have :)

I hope you like it :)

Take care,

How I Feel Today...

After my morning meditation

I started playing around with my image program

and thought it would be nice to make something 

that remind us all that we are LOVED

Deeply Loved, nurtured, cared for :)

Today I Am Grateful For...1-26-15

Lord, today I am so grateful for the morning routine that I am starting and you are helping me stay there with it.
I am grateful for life,
I am grateful for one more day that I can have with my children, where I can teach them again one or few more things about you,
Thank you God for the happiness you instill in me even though we all go through hard times,
thank you for the food we eat every day,
thank you for the water you provide for us to drink and keep us healthy,
thank you for our health because we recognize that without health we wouldn't be able to enjoy this life,
thank you Lord for all the awesome resources we get in the internet that help us become a better person,
thank you for giving me the time to praise you and the courage to follow my heart in everything I do.
Thank you Lord for such a wonderful day you have for me today :)
Thank you , Thank you, Thank you.

Guilt

I promised I was going to share everything I learn 

Here is one of the things I learn in a telesummit last week :)

Also it said that if you feel guilty it can be that 

you either know that you shouldn't feel guilty 

and you have to remember that guilt doesn't help you at all 

or

that if you feel guilty is because you know you are doing something

you shouldn't and you know you have to stop. 

How To Get Rid Of All The Repeated Post On Google+

This is something I learn a little while ago and like I promised I was going to share...

Lately I've been visiting a lot of you on Google+ and I have noticed that on your profile there is a lot of repetitive pictures and posts of what you share in the different communities.

And I know this is bothersome.

The good news is that it can be fixed...

Do you want to know how?

I was messing around on Google+ a while ago and found out a way.

Here is how... (super easy, I promise)

First go to Google+
and where it says "Home"
put your mouse pointer over it
and click on "profile"
now go to view profile as: and click on "public"
(this is how everybody sees your Google+)
Now go back to "Profile" or "Home"
and in the drop down click on "settings"
scroll all the down to where it says "Profile"
and UNclick where it says: Show your Google+ communities posts on the Posts tab of your Google+ profile.

That's it! You are done!
It will save the setting by itself.

Let me know how that works for you.

I hope this helps some of you out there,

Take care,

WOYWW #294 My New Work Space

I don't know what got into me yesterday.

Since I am in the process of cleaning my work table,

after dinner I took my little pink bag that you see here

and empty it out

started taking all my different pencils, pens, markers,

some brushes and watercolors and put them in there

on top of a basket full of cooking magazines

(that I never get to lol)

and next to my BIG bag of books

that I try to read at night :)

As you can see I moved part of my work area 

to my bedside because...

I noticed at night when I am too tired to do anything

I just want to sit on my bed and either

draw, read, crochet (which I haven't done in a while) or write 

while my husband and daughter bond watching tv :)

There you have it

that's what I have

on my new night work space :)

Solving Overwhelm, One Step At A Time...

A little bit ago I wrote about how my head is just spinning with ideas and not knowing what to do, where to start, feeling overwhelmed.

I've been reading and listening to some people on the internet about how to be more productive and how to better use your time and I came to the conclusion that for now what's going to work for me is to clean, organize and prepare my work area to start doing what I like.

Meanwhile I am going to write down all the ideas that come to me head and work on them one at the time.

This is a drawing of my journal :)

I am trying to set a morning routine though for my 40 min that I have by myself in the morning and so far I have my Bible reading and some writing since I love to write for some reason :)

If somebody else was having a hard time like me, I hope this helps :)

DIY MakeUp Remover

A while ago I started browsing through some beauty recipes I have

from when I was in Cosmetology school

I am very fortunate that I did Cosmetology school in South America

(that's where I am from)

where we have more of a natural and holistic way of doing things

and I also did my Cosmetology school here in the States (Ohio)

where I learned a whole lot more that complemented my career as a Cosmetologist :)

I decided to make the Make Up Remover 

since it has the easiest things you can get at any store.

This recipe is super easy and 

I already tested on myself.

It works awesome 

and is not expensive at all.

All you need is:

A mason jar like the one I am using here

Round cotton pads

1 1/2 cups of water

2 Tbs of tear free baby shampoo

1/4 tsp of baby oil

If you don't have this last two ingredients and you don't want to buy them since you only use so little I would just ask somebody who has a baby to share a little bit of them with you ;)

Anyways...

Just mix the water, the baby shampoo and the oil together

put some of the mix in the mason jar (maybe 1/3 of the jar full)

then put some of the round pads on the mix.

Then do the same little by little until the jar is full,

that way all the pads get soak with the solution.

That's it!

Can you believe how easy is that?

I've been using it for a month already and I love it!

I hope this comes in handy for you :)

Please let me know if you make it :)

Step by Step Art Journal Page

Art Journaling is one of the things that just calls me for no reason

Even though I think there is a self healing reason

or a therapy involve during the process of making art.

Like always we start with a blank page

I decided to add a green watercolor to it

why? I really don't know is just what I felt like at that moment :)

Then I put some Faber Castell Gelatos that my daughter gave me for Christmas

and boy! I love them :)

I just put some random lines just like you see here, nothing to it 

Then, I spread the colors with my fingers

which I run through a baby wipe first for a little moist.

Once spread this is what it looks like

I added some arrows using a stencil

(that's what I am holding with my fingers there)

using a yellow gel pen

after that I decided to use an arrow stamp

using the same Faber Castell Gelatos

just by rubbing it n the stamp

spraying a little bit of water to it

before putting it on the paper

I saw that my corners looked a little naked to me

so I spread some more gelatos on the corner

with a wet brush ( the same that comes with the gelatos)

Again I decided to use a stamp

Now for the middle of the page

I took an old ripped children's book

and cut out what I liked

(recycle baby, recycle lol)

Arrenged it on the page how I liked it

Cut the excess if you want to

and doodle around the cut out :)

Now that still looked naked to me

so I stamped some words

and hearts all around using the same gelato technique

And there is my complete page again :)

I hope you like it

I hope you learned something new

Any suggestions just let me know

I am very open minded :)

Love,

#WOYWW #293

A watercolor craziness lol

I Have a Confession...And a Question for You :)

(Deep breath)...

I work part time and lately most of my time there I am thinking on coming home and doing art or scrapbooking which I haven't done in so many years. I am thinking on my blog and all the things that I like to do and I can share here.

I feel overwhelmed most of the time. there are so many things that I enjoy doing that my mind goes crazy, is spinning all the time. Is like that wheel for the setting that we have in our phone or tablet, but mine goes round and round where in every tiny turn there is an idea there of what I can do and make when I get home.

But then I come home and is like I am in shock. So many thoughts that I don't know where to start. My table is taken over with boxes of things that we, I mean... I need to clean up and I don't want to do it because it takes all my time. I know if I start doing it I eventually will finish it in a week or so but then my mind jumps somewhere else, thinking about house work and I don't feel happy doing art if my house in not all tidy... am I nuts?

On the other hand my boss tells me all the time that I am meant to do what I do at work. I am a preschool teacher and a few years ago I open a blog called Storytime Storytime and More, but then I stopped posting since my daughter grew up and the activities changed (now she is almost 10)

So tell me please,...What is wrong with me? (Sigh)... (Deep breath)...

I have two set of times for myself every day: one is in the morning from 5:45 am to 6:30 am and the other one is from 12:00pm to 2:30pm but then all I am thinking is about dinner housework laundry etc, etc, etc.

There have been times when I leave my personal things, like art journaling, sketching, etc, for after dinner but no, that doesn't work because I am not by myself at home. so I dedicated that time to either check my emails, maybe some crochet and read a book which has worked so far for me.

But what about my other two small set of times?

How do I take advantage of it for my passions?

Why do I feel so guilty or anxious about using my little time for what I like? Believe me I have read tons of self help books to help me with this but the overwhelmed and the confusion are still there :(

Does anybody have had this problem?

How did you overcome it?

Thanks for all the help I can get :)

Love,

A Light On My Path

Psalm 119:105

My daughter couldn't sleep a few nights ago, so I sat in her room keeping her company.
I saw her lamp and I started to draw it, it is much prettier than this.
But it seem so empty on the page so I added a Bible verse to it after I took the picture.
I thought this was the perfect on for it :) Psalm 119:105

Thanks for visiting :)