Small, delicate, beautiful things...

Collage & drawing by Lani

Lee Chung-Ryoul, the director of "Old Partner" said, "I want to focus on small, delicate stories.  There's a beauty in things that aren't necessarily glamorous.  …I want to film something you can feel, not necessarily see."

I like that.  Small, delicate, beautiful things.  Everyday things that you might miss if you aren't careful.

So here's a brief list of small, delicate, beautiful things:
1. The Korean movie "Old Partner"
2. An amazingly beautiful writing App, Ommwriter
3. A lovely morning walk with "the boys"

Edward walking the dogs in a park in Halifax.

What are the color of your dreams?

Collage by Lani, texture from FlyPaper Textures.

What are the color of your dreams?  Playing with space, light, and color here on the Lani Puppetmaker Blog Spot.

Collage by Lani

 Here's to creating space for the unexpected!

A Complaint-Free Corner

Amusing "Complaint Free" collage by Lani, texture by Kim Kassen.

 I was watching a video from Mona Grayson on Goddess Leoni's World's Biggest Summit.  She's got this purple wrist band and she is doing the "complaint free world" challenge.  Well, I got intrigued.  The whole idea is so simple.  You get this wrist band, you resolve to live complaint free for 21 days (that's how long it takes to create a new way of being in the world) and if you slip, no, when you slip you switch the wrist band to the other wrist.  So according to Will Bowen who wrote the book, this practice stage where you are catching yourself complaining and then stopping and switching your wristband may go on for quite a few months, but really practice is practice and there's nothing wrong with it.  Also you get to be shocked by how much complaining goes on around us and inside us all day long.  So I'm psyched to create a complaint free corner of the world, I've ordered my wrist band but I will employ a rubber band until the real one arrives.

Here are a few great reasons to try this complaint-free corner of the world, right now!

1 – When you’re complaint-free, there is a subtle shift towards possibilities and solutions and away from the constant focus on "The Problem."
When you remove the option of complaining, you can start to see solutions.
2 – When you live complaint-free, there's way less annoying "it's all about me" activity (lol).
Complaining makes someone or something wrong "out there" all the time and it makes "me" right all the time. Right, but the victim of all that's wrong in the world.  Very annoying.  (Oops, am I complaining?)
3 – When you live complaint-free, you find new interesting things to think about.  If you take away what normally takes up 85% of what we talk about, you suddenly have so much freedom and time to find other more interesting things to examine and talk about.  It will change how you look at the world.
4 – When you live complaint-free, you will find you are a happier person.

Want to try?  Click here for Will Bowen's website and get your purple wrist band today.

Some blue for Erika.

Morning pages, fiddled in Photoshop by Lani

Some blue for Erika (see previous post comment) and an idea about combining new and old journal pages.  The art is from this morning and here's a quote from a while back:

"...a single act of giving has a value beyond what we can imagine.  So much ... is expressed and realized in giving: love, compassion, sympathetic joy, equanimity..."  - Sharon Saltzberg

We just don't know where an act of generosity will go.   Maybe some kind of generosity round robin would be the thing, create a gift and pass it on and document it.  Hmmm.  Stay tuned!

January and Blue Monday

Blue Monday Collage by Lani

One of the 14 Secrets members,  William (Billizetti), is hosting a tea party today for fun and to counter the mid winter blah feeling that can get us a little down right about now in the northern hemisphere.  It is a hoot, so do check it out if you get a chance.  It will chase your blues or blahs right away and get you wondering what your own blog tea party would look like! 


Anyway I got curious about this winter blah feeling and did a tiny bit of research. For example did you know about Blue Monday?  I didn't.  It is supposed to be the most depressing day of the year and the date of "Blue Monday" was mathematically calculated Dr. Cliff Arnall a researcher at Cardiff University. He created his formula for the most depressing day of the year by working six distinct factors into the equation: weather conditions (Gloomy January and its typical lack of sunshine - that's of course in the Northern Hemisphere), debt level and our ability to pay that debt, time elapsed since Christmas, time elapsed since failing our New Years resolutions, our general seasonal motivational levels (don't you find it's WAY harder to get up and out these days?), and our need to take action and to have something to look forward to.  I found though that by some calculations this past Monday was Blue Monday and by others' it this coming Monday.  Heck, the whole month is a wee bit blah if you ask me.   (Want to read more about Blue Monday?  Try this slightly snarky article in the Guardian if you like snarky.)

Here are 10 Things You Can Do To Beat Blue Monday (or any other Blue Day this month)

1. Try something new.  Get your brain forming new neural pathways, a sure fire cure for blues. Be creative.

2. Get physical. Exercise releases a lot of great brain chemicals.  Really you can't beat it for beating the blues. greens health and fitness

3. Contact a friend or relative.  Getting in touch with someone else often takes your mind off your blue feeling.

4. Take a break.  Go somewhere different, whether it’s a coffee bar you have never been into, or vacation to a warmer climate; by changing your physical location, you change your perspective on the world.

5. Be nice to a stranger. Do a random act of kindness; doing good for others is the best form of self-satisfaction.

6. Help the planet.  It's your home.  It will be your descendants' home.  Why not take care of it?

7. Pamper yourself! Make a spa date for yourself, either at home or at your local spa.

8. Plan something new.  Whether it’s blog tea party or deciding what to do at the weekend, looking forward to something new or different can be uplifting and refreshing.

9. Share you thoughts.  A problem shared is a problem halved and joy shared is joy multiplied!

10. You may also want to keep in mind that there is also a “happiest day of the year,” June 18, according to Dr. Arnall. And it isn't so very far away.

My New Year's Revolution is Ready!!!

Thanks to Gretchen Miller's Revolutionary Art Journaling process, I am delighted with my New Year's Revolution.  I looked through my most recent art journal and decided that the cover should reflect my current interest in fully occupying my own life, mind, heart, and art!

So this is the cover.  To create this book I took Gretchen's directions and went one step further.  I had a pair of "7 Gypsies" book boards in my art stash which I really wanted to use, so I took a kids board book right apart and cut the pages to match.  I love the size and the antique look of the cover.  The hand is reaching down with a little card that says "celebrate" which of course is a very good concept.

Here's my first spread with my first revolutionary idea, which is to occupy the year with art or through art making, every day!  It's a gift so why not enjoy the gift?

My second spread is about keeping it real.  (If it's raining use an umbrella, don't just pretend that there is no rain, lol!)  Some of the text is snagged and slightly altered from Gretchen Miller's revolutionary Pinterest page.  If you want some revolutionary wisdom and joy do click here as soon as possible.

 So the third spread is about Joy!  It's portable so bring it along where ever you go.  And a little reminder to do more of what brings us joy!  Yes! 

  This fourth spread  is about kindness.  It really does improve everything around us if we can remember to be kind as much as possible.  This was one of the things that impressed me most about the Occupy folks, they really were practicing kindness under some very difficult situations.  I would like to carry this practice into the new year.

 My fifth spread is about including more laughter in my life.  Sometimes it gets a little studious in my studio.  I wish to remember to laugh more often.

 The Sixth spread is about wonder and grace.  I'm wanting to focus a bit this year on the importance of wonder and curiosity in our lives.  I believe it helps in many ways, like keeping us questioning and perhaps staying away from the fossilization that occurs when we believe our assumptions.  The right hand page is about those moments of grace that sometimes go unnoticed.  I want to stay alert for them in 2012!  "What small act of kindness were you once shown that you will never forget?"  (This question is from the Kind Over Matter blog, a real must read right now and often!  Thanks to Gretchen who listed this blog as one of her many resources!)

 My final spread is back to the Occupy movement, a little collage of my occupy elf on the Wall Street Bull.  In 2012 I will be learning to Occupy my life!  And here's the back cover.  Hope you enjoyed it.  The binding was from a workshop with LK Ludwig but if you want to try altering a kid's board book, just take a look at the easy-peasy directions in Gretchen's great "Ready for Revolution Art Journaling E-Book !

PS - The new year is just around the corner and I'm opening up the "class rooms" for this last run of the current eCourses.   Yes, the two for one offer is still good.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

It's snowing in Nova Scotia, with new textures from FlyPaper Textures.

There's nothing quite like a beautiful, gentle snow fall and we got one yesterday with just the right amount of snow.  Now it will be a white Christmas with a warm fire and plumb pudding!  Hooray.  Merry Christmas everyone!  (Check the FlyPaper Blog for instructions on using textures.  Wonderful!)

Prospero studies the snow, with new textures from FlyPaper Textures.

Morning walk in the snow, with new textures from FlyPaper Textures.