This is my art for catalyst
Eighteen at creative therapy, which is: What’s your favorite place
in your house, and why?
When I first thought of this catalyst, I was going to make it about our
living room. It’s the room where I scrap, where David plays, and where
the TV is. For me, that makes it the best room. Then I thought I might
do it about the garden. I’ve never lived in a house that had a garden,
so I think it’s so special and I thought it would be worthy of the
catalyst. Then I realized that the thing I love the most is that we live
in a house.
I grew up in a big city where there are no houses, only apartment
buildings. So living in a house, having my own backyard, my own little
space on the street, my own driveway: it all makes me so happy. It’s
something I always wanted as a kid. And it’s something I love. I don’t
even care that I don’t own it or that it’s falling apart a bit. I love
living in it. I love my house. My yard. My driveway. All of it.
This is for catalyst
seventeen: what’s a quality you look for in a romantic partner?
Journaling Reads:
Maybe it’s weird that a quality I look for in others should be about me,
but the more I think, the more I realize that the number one quality I
look for in a romantic partner is that they make me want to be a better
me. No scratch that. That they make me want to be the best me. What
excites me the most is meeting someone I respect. Someone whom I look up
to. Someone who inspires me to be better.
This is for catalyst
fifteen: your happiest memory.
I decided to write about a car trip my husband and I took to Joshua Tree
National Park. It was our first time at the park and we were awed by its
uniqueness. We walked around and then sat down at a bench and talked for
hours until it got dark. On the way home, we put the windows down, put
on some music and sang at the top of our lungs.
It was just another ordinary day, but knowing that I can still spend a
whole day talking with my husband after having been together nine years
(at the time) and just having returned from a 3-month cross-country trip
where it was just the two of us, made me feel so happy. He has always
been and will always be my best friend. If I ever doubt that, all I have
to do is remember the day we spent at Joshua Tree.
Thank you to Tattered Angels and A Million Memories for the
beautiful Glimmer Mist.
This was for Creative
Therapy #14 (what’s one lesson you’d teach your kids) and an AMM spotlight for Tattered
Angels. It is really really shiny in person. here’s the journaling:
Little boy, there are so many lessons I wish I could teach you. I wish I
could teach you to enjoy each and every moment of life. I wish I could
teach you to treat everyone with love and respect. I wish I could teach
you to always be curious. To laugh often. To have a lot of courage. To
give and ask for help.
The list goes on and on.
But if I get to pick one single lesson to share with you, it will be to
always have integrity. Always do what you say you will. When you say you
will. Keep your word. If you respect yourself and others, people will
respect you and trust you on your word. That’s the most valuable thing
you have in the world, David. Your word.
There are times in your life you feel like cutting corners or doing
things you might not later be proud of and I urge you to take the extra
few seconds to think things through, my son. Be honest. Many things can
be mended but a loss of respect is incredibly hard to recover. Your word
is how others see you.
Your word is who you are. Live your life with integrity and character,
my son. It is the very best advice I can ever give you.
This is for creative therapy catalyst
13: thank someone.
There are many people who have helped me in my life. Many people who
deserve thanks for so many things. But what my son has already done for
my life will forever be the one thing I am eternally grateful for.
Before David was born, I had always been a sad person inside. Not that I
didn’t have happy moments but overall, my normal state of being was on
the sad side. I remember that when I was pregnant, I was really worried
that my son would have a sad mom and blame himself. I was worried I
would have really bad post-partum. I was worried about a lot of things.
I wanted to “fix myself” before he came. I made up this big sign that
read “Give up that there’s something wrong.” and I put it above my
bedroom door so I saw it every morning and night. I was going to learn
to be happy, no matter what it took.
It turned out that I really didn’t have anything to worry about. I
cannot explain why or how but the minute David was born, something
fundamental shifted inside me. Not only did I not have an inkling of
post-partum, but David made me a happy person. Since his birth, I have
felt a deep peace inside that I had never experienced previously. He has
literally changed who I am.
No matter what the coming years bring, I will forever be thankful to my
boy for giving me this priceless gift.
Journaling Reads:
David the list of things for which I am thankful to you goes on and on.
You have brought so much joy into my life and you have taught me that
life is full of fun and happiness. The way your life is all about the
little moments and making tons of tiny memories is what I cherish the
most. You have taught me how to live and how to love you.
—
I’ve used Glimmer Mist that I was lucky to get as part of being on A Million Memories DT. You
can’t really see but the hearts glimmer.
This is for catalyst
twelve at creative therapy. The catalyst is “If you could do
something to make a big impact on the world, what would it be?”
For this week’s catalyst, I wanted to do something different. I feel
very strongly that every one of us can change the world by doing
seemingly small things. We all have the power and the ability to make
this world a better place. So I made a little minibook with my ideas on
how you can change the world:
Here are the sections:
1. Help others: Imagine if everyone spent a few more hours a week
volunteering? We could make such a huge impact on the world. Or maybe
something tiny. Help hold the door for the person coming behind you. Do
a tiny kind gesture, you can never be sure what effect that has on the
rest of the world.
2. Be kind: Be kind and loving to people. Always assume the best of
others. I think if everyone did that, the world would be a different
place.
3. Have a child: Children are our future. They represent the world of
possibilities, they are going to create the tomorrow we live. They will
definitely change the world.
4. School and Family First: I believe that everything starts with family
and education. Those are the two pillars of any human and if you get
those right, your impact on the world will be that much stronger.
5. Change yourself: It all starts with you. Don’t wait for others to
change. Start with the man in the mirror.
I think the world is changed by seemingly tiny things all the time. If
we do any of these five, I think we are moving the world in a more
positive direction.
I used tattered angels products I got for being on AMM DT
This is for creative Therapy catalyst
eleven.
Here’s the journaling:
You gave me the love of words.
My first memory ever is of you sitting on our parents’ bed and reading
the newspaper. I was so envious, I asked you to teach me to read, too.
And you did. One letter at a time.
Yona, you may not know this, but you gave me the biggest present anyone
ever gave me. You gave me the love of words. Over the years, through
sad, boring, and even happy times, I always had books. It didn’t matter
where I was, with whom I was, or what I did. As long as I had a book or
two, life was swell.
Those few hours we spent together opened up an entire world for me. It
became my best escape. My way of falling into other people’s lives. My
way of living, loving, learning. My favorite thing in the whole world.
I went through a tough childhood and didn’t have a lot of good friends.
But I always had books. I lived vicariously through so many of them. I
still remember how you drove me to bookstores far away just so I could
pick my favorite books. I remember how much you supported my love of the
written word. From that first memory and onward.
Over the years, many things about me changed. But not my love of
reading. I still read two books a week, most weeks. I still crave the
words, the stories, the lives that I get to experience. I still carry a
book with me everywhere I go. It’s still my very favorite way to relax,
escape, and to feel happy.
I want you to know, Yona, that I owe it all to you. To that moment when
you didn’t tell me to leave you alone. That moment when you let me lie
there, next to you, on Mom and Dad’s bed, and showed me how to read each
letter.
You gave me the love of words, my sister. The best present I’ve ever
received in my whole life.
This is my layout for catalyst
ten.
Journaling Reads:
You were the only one who really understood me. The one who truly
supported me. The one who made me feel less alone in the world. I love
you each and every single day and miss you with all my heart.
I used papers graphic45 sent us as part of being on AMM DT.
This week’s catalyst
is about “What do you feel pessimistic about?”
Journaling Reads:
I used to get pessimistic about everything. I felt that if things could
go wrong, they would. Then, I realized that with time things started to
get better and look less scary. So I learned to tell myself that if I
feel down, I just have to wait a little longer and, with time, all of it
passes.
This week’s catalyst is about “What is your guilty pleasure and why does
it make you feel guilty?”
Journaling Reads:
I spent the last week thinking about my guilty pleasures and kept coming
up empty over and over again. I have lots of things that I shouldn’t be
doing but somehow I just don’t feel guilty about any of them.
This week’s catalyst
is about “what makes you, you?”
I used the cardboard to emphasize the feeling of being “bare” and the
authentic me. I also tore the papers to give the impression that all the
layers of me were stripped off and this was the true me.
Journaling Reads:
what you see is what you get.
that’s me.
i don’t mince words. i am not cruel but i also don’t lie. i have no time
to play games. too many people have messed with my head and i refuse to
play with yours.
when you get me as a friend, you get a loyal person who will always be
honest, kind and generous.
i will not change on you. i will not deceive you. i will not stab you in
the back. i only know one way to be and this is it.
it may take a while to get to know me. to see that i truly care. and i
really will be there. always.
you may be confused. you may think there’s more under the surface. you
may wait anxiously to see what’s really going on.
but it’s really simple with me: what you see is what you get.
always.
This week’s catalyst
is about “Someone or something that really frustrates you. Feel free to
vent, but in a therapeutic way.”
I’ve been hurt many times by people who seemed like they were my friend
but turned out not to be so. I decided to dedicate this week’s layout to
them. I used crackle paint and then inked it. I also made my own
background. I took a photo of one of my such friends and me and
scratched her face out and tore the photo. This was indeed very
therapeutic for me.
Journaling reads:
fake.
yes, i’m talking to you. i thought you were my friend. now i can see
that you don’t even know what it means to be a friend.
if there’s one thing i hate in the world more than anything else, it’s
people being one thing to your face and another behind your back. i
wouldn’t take that from anyone and i am surely not taking it from you.
i was surprised, at first.
then i was sad.
and then mad.
now i’m finished.
done.
Come
play.
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projects for twenty twenty-four
projects for twenty twenty-three
projects for twenty twenty-two
projects for twenty twenty-one
projects for twenty nineteen
projects for twenty eighteen
projects from twenty seventeen
monthly projects from previous years
some of my previous projects
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