Joy: Learning Life's Lessons With a Light Heart

So, I am currently reading the book 'Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy' bu Sarah Ban Breathnach, and it is pretty incredible. I seem to be reading it at the exact time that I feel I should be. Every day it brings something new for me to ponder on during the day. Everyday it has a page for what you should focus on during the day, or however long it takes for you to grasp that concept.

But one I have had in mind particularly to share with you guys is January 19th. The title is 'Joy: Learning Life's Lessons with a Light Heart'. I will just write a small part from it now. 

'Learning to live in the present moment is part of the path of joy. But this requires a profound inner shift in our reality. Many of us unconsciously create dramas in our minds, expecting the worst from a situation only to have our expectations become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Inadvertently, we become authors to own own misfortune. And so we struggle from day to day, from crisis to crisis, bruised and battered by circumstances without realizing that we always have a choice. 

But what if you learned how to stop the dramas and started to trust the flow of life and the goodness of spirit? What if you began to expect the best from any situation? Isn't it possible that you could write new chapters in your life with happy endings? For many of us this is such a radical departure from the way we have been behaving that it seems unbelievable. Yet it is possible. Suspend your disbelief. Take a leap of faith. After all, what have you got to lose but misery and lack?

Begin today. Declare out loud to the Universe that you are willing to let go of struggle and eager to learn through joy. It just may take you at your word. What's more, you'll discover, much to your amazement and delight, that such blessings have been waiting patiently for you to claim them all along.'

My favorite line in the whole thing: What have you got to love but misery and lack? 

I find it very difficult to not see the bad part of things and to expect it to turn out badly. That way, I don't get disappointed, but I have tried to convince myself that being positive about everything not only will it lead to good things, but I wont be disappointed at all. It's a hard thing to tell myself!

I am looking forward to claiming all the blessings that have been waiting for me, are you ready to claim yours?

Let me know what you thought about that article in the comments below! 

Have a nice day! 

I'm back! And I have a desk!

Well, I'm back guys! I have been spending the last month or so collecting experiences and ideas for blog posts and ways to improve my blog and my other internet jobs. :)

But I am back, I have a huge list of stuff that I can blog about now, so I am keen to get started on that! I think it was important for me to just spend a little time away in order to collect my thoughts and figure out what I was doing.


If you have been following this blog for a while, you will know that my boyfriend and I still live with our (respective, we dont have the same!) parents and it is difficult for us to have enough space for what we need. Me specifically, as I have all my craft and art, my blog stuff and papers, as well as my books for my reviews. I didnt have a desk that I could sit and write at, and it was becoming more and more frustrating. While we are trying to be happy with what we have got, it was becoming annoying to constantly be moving things from room to room and it not being in the order that I need it to be. We both have pretty tiny bedrooms, and trying to fit a bed, wardrobe, chest of drawers and a desk was becoming increasingly difficult.

But after much discussion we figured out a way to move Boy's room around where everyone gets what they want! It's very nice that I can get up and get working while Boy is still sleeping. I usually wake up a lot earlier than he does, so now I have something to do instead of me lying there sighing and wanting to wake him up!

There we are! My nice new usable desk. It is right next to my side of the bed, so perfect for just waking up and doing an hour or so of work before Tom wakes up and the rest of our day is planned.

I am very happy with the set up despite it still being cramped, it is a lot nicer to use!

How She Does It- Painting Process

Hello, my pretties!! I am starting a new segment today! Yay! Called How She Does It, it is mainly going to be my DIY or photography or editing* or painting or...you get my drift. It's how I personally do things compared to how you are 'supposed' to.
Anyway! Here is my first How She Does It, and it is how I get photos for painting.
I am a huge fan of color. Bright, happy, color! Asked me a few years ago, I would have said black and red were my favorite colors, but now just any mix of colors is my favorite! I do take a lot of my paintings from photos or pictures, and this one is no exception.

*Just so everyone knows I mostly use Jasc Paint Shop Pro 9 for editing. I do have Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 installed as well as Corel Painter Essentials 4, but I grew up using PSP, so am finding it hard to change to Photoshop! 

Okay, So I in fact have not painted this yet, I got the initial set up done, and then I will be painting it in the next few days. So first off, I find a photo that I like. I found this one of my sister when she was younger, working in our garden. After I find one, I reduce the colors in it.

(Click to make larger)

I usually go for 16 colors (the second on that list) but this time I went with the last option X Colors (4/8 bit)

I just played around with the colors till I got the following 

I went with 12 in the end. (So 12 main colors present)

I then decided what I wanted to keep in the painting and what I didnt. I decided to get rid of the house behind it, except for the main brick wall.

I will be filling it with paint in the painting stage. It wont be that stand out-y! 

I wont be painting my other sisters head either, but I wanted to keep the scene normal.

So thats what I would paint. The colors are ones that I can easily mix and it would be quite easy. But I mentioned my love for color. So while that is what I normally do, with this picture I would probably do something like this.

Happy times!

So much more color!!! This one was just a quick show and tell, so I dont like some of the colors (too much purple!) but for the idea, this is how I did it.

Now, I dont personally touch the Lightness meter, I let that stay the same. But I move Saturation up and Hue down. Whatever you decide, colors would be different (which is how i wouldnt get so much purple) 

All the meters start on 0. 

Anyway, that is how I do my paintings! Here is an example of one I did just recently. 

Percy. :) Unfortunately, I dont have the original photo anymore!

Well, I hope you enjoyed this, please let me know if there is anything that you would like to see, I love reading all your comments! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Inspiration Station

Not a lot of time over the last week! It's been flu shots, sickness, working and family events, which equals both a lot of blog post ideas, but no time to do it! Anyway, here is my current Inspiration Station!

Found here

Found Here

Found Here

Found Here

Found here

Have a nice day!