Focus on Gratitude

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It has been a challenging few weeks in my neck of the woods 

and I have had difficulty sleeping. 

Productivity has been down, and worry has sky rocketed. 

Fortunately for me, 

I have a loving, caring, supportive family to lean on. 

During these challenging weeks, my dad 

(who is turning 86 years young tomorrow!)

continues to remind me to be grateful for all the good things I do have. 

He has a small journal style book that he uses to record the things he is grateful for. 

My dad is not a writer -for him to sit down and write is difficult

 but he does it to remind himself of his daily gratitudes

- from the blue sky and fresh air that he walks in

- to his good health

- and to having more food than he needs

- he is always thankful. 

  

Recently he offered me his gratitude journal to take and write in, 

as he felt it would help me focus on the many good things I do have.  

Instead of taking his book, I made this book into my gratitude journal 

and have been trying to write a sentence or two in it daily.   

Although the challenges I have right now are still here 

I try to remember all the good things I do have 

 and with that I know many wonderful things will continue to come my way.  

Creating with Tea Bags. . . . . Again

As many of you probably know

I love creating with tea bags.

But... it seems like it has been a while since I have created with them. 

So I started off by adding a few of my photographs to tea bags 

thinking I would have time to make a whole stack. 

.... and here is the ONE I managed to finish!

It started with this photo

and then I added some collage bits, paint, wax and pen marks.  

I am not sure when I will get time to create with the rest of them.... but I am hoping that it is soon!

Although I love blogging it doesn't seem like I get to it as often as I would like, 

and therefore have started posting on Instagram.  

Feel free to follow along with my creations there if you would like. (click the link below!)

KimHenkelCreations on Instagram

Refillable Notebooks

Just finished two little soft covered notebooks. 

They are decorated with tea bags and my hand carved stamps.

They have 3 signatures of paper that I stitched on my machine. 

These signatures are removable - so when the pages are filled up,

you can just insert a new set of pages. 

Life is so busy these days, that I don't seem to have much creative time. 

I really enjoyed making these..... 

Finally Finished

I started this book quite some time ago

It has many layers of paint, ink, collage, pencil.

And yes - I showed you the covers some time ago.

But it took me a long time to get around to finishing it off. 

I am going to be teaching a course on making

these style of journals at a Arts Underground in Whitehorse

And this little but fat journal was made from the leftover bits

from the big journal making project. 

I love when one project inspires another project. 

Christmas Decorations

I made these Christmas decorations just in time for 

the local Christmas sale a couple of weeks ago. 

They sold out very quickly, 

and I have been trying to find some time to make some more.

They have many layers, including paper pulp, tea bags, gesso and paint, 

and then images or stamps, some ink and collage bits 

before adding a final layer of paste wax. 

Maybe tomorrow I will have some time to play with some more of these

..... although I do have some snow shoveling to do!

Tea Bags and Stamps

I am a little late in switching over from the day planner

I made last year (left) to the one I made for this year. 

But it is ready to go for February 1st

which is the day I go back to work 

after spending the month of January playing and relaxing. 

I decorated the cover and pages with my hand carved stamps.

The system I used last year worked great,

so I am continuing in the same format.

I carry around 3 months of pages at a time,

and can add and remove the months of pages as needed. 

A system to help keep me smiling and organized for the year!

Getting Organized?

Sheesh!  I have been trying to get organized for so long now,

and it just isn't working!

But I have finally finished this day timer 

that will hopefully help someone stay organized. 

This day timer comes with a stack of little booklets

- one for each month.

The beauty of this organizer is that 

you carry around three months of pages at a time,

and when the month is over you slide the old pages out

and move the new month of pages in. 

(moving the next months to the correct spot of the 3 slots)

The pages are decorated with my hand carved stamps

and have the days of the month written 

in the top corner of the page.

The names of the month is written

 on the first page of each month booklet.

The days of week can be added as the year rolls along 

- which makes the daytime ready to be used 

next year or the year after, or the year after that.

An elastic cord wraps around the 3 month planner

 I made myself this one last year

 

and have loved using it for almost a year now.

I have another one finished .....

but the light was bad today when I tried to take pictures of it

But hopefully I can share it with you soon! 

AND ..... I finally managed to add a few cards and a day timer 

to my Etsy shop - and I will add some more items soon! 

Working towards being organized!

Bowl Making ..... Again

I have been on a bowl making spree.

I made the forms out of egg cartons that I soaked 

and pulverized into pulp.  

The forms were covered with emptied tea bags and paint
then other paper, and sometimes drawings or images were added. 

They have a final coat of paste wax to seal them.

These bowls can't hold soup, 
but I can imagine them holding some of my 
rock or shell or feather collections. 

I also made a couple of small bowls 

To add to my small bowl collection.

And my stack of larger bowls is also growing.

Its been fun making these bowls,
but I have decided to take a bit of a creative
and blogging break to get outside
and enjoy what may be the last bit of our summer.

I will be back in a couple of weeks!

See my previous bowl post here.