New Year Preparation

I have downloaded and printed lots of goodies to prepare for my new year. My next journal will start on January 6, actually I may overlap January 1 - 5 in my January /February journal and Christmas journal. I found some wonderful Internet treasures to inspire me and help me plan.

Ephemera's Vintage Garden has loads of freebies, but beautiful for purchase kits, also! I purchased a planner kit and Christmas kit. Keep in mind the price is Canadian, so it is lower USD.

I also downloaded 2 different planners. First, a freebie from Livia Farkas. There are quite a few very useful pages in this planner! And it's free!  http://urbaneve.co.uk/2016-planner/

The second planner is a purchase but isn't just a pdf. Leonie Dawson (http://www.leoniedawson.com) has created a beautiful set of physical planners. I purchased the pdf planner and was surprised to find that it included videos to help guide my goal planning. I have it in my tablet and my computer and I love it! 

I have a few more cool printables on my Pinterest board called "2016 Planner".

So, as you enter this new year,  my wish for all of us is that we love well, take time to breathe in the beauty of creation, and don't forget to dream! Oh, and be kind to one another!

A bit of Joy...

We found out this morning that Jak will continue to work in 2016. I am thrilled! I think Jak is ready to cut back though.  I think he is, at the very least, ready to shorten his work week. It's so difficult to imagine this next phase of our lives...

Here's a peek at my journal so far this week. The Spirit of Christmas Present was on the book page,  so I Zentangled a tree. The Joy banner was a challenge from my fauxbonichi Facebook group. I'm kinda loving my glitter gel pens!

Oh Christmas tree...

I really miss having a live tree. I bought a (very nice) artificial tree when I found that I was going out to cut the tree all by myself and it was becoming a bit of a chore.  But this year,  I am a bit tempted to go out and cut a small tree just for myself. Where could I put it? There is a tree in every room as it is. The deck? Hmmm... 😃

So today I found a rather nice meditation on YouTube from Yoga Moksha. I actually used it while I Zentangled.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Namaste!

Pockets!

I love pockets. I love pockets in my scrapbooks, in my sewing, in my camper, in my backpack AND in this journal! I made my pocket out of an old Christmas card. I have a photo collage of the pocket I made on today's layout in my advent journal, but if you would like a template, email or message me. I made a template but can't seem to attach a pdf from my tablet. Ugh.

As I continue to explore the topic of peace,  I find myself very angry when listening to news, or reading Facebook posts regarding people of the Muslim faith. If you have no Muslim friends then you really should not be making judgment on people you do not know. Did we, as humanity, learn nothing during the Crusades? {{sigh}} The pockets I place in my journal give me a nice little place to vent or write a prayer or draw ... my journey toward Peace.

Peace be with you and enjoy your pockets!

Peace to you...

First keep the peace within yourself, then you can also bring peace to others.   ~Thomas A. Kempis

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day...

I have had this song in my head for weeks...  as I was contemplating Peace.  I went to YouTube and there I found some fantastic videos!  There are (at least) three musical versions of the song. This is just one of the several...  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZtNlZmnEMU  Go and watch it and then come back!

After I heard the history of the song, that the lyrics came from a Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem, I had to find the complete poem!  So, I have included it here, "Christmas Bells", written on Christmas Day 1863,

If you STILL want more, here is an excellent article on Longfellow and the history of this remarkable poem. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/don-meyer-phd/i-heard-the-bells-on-chri_b_2316476.html

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play, 
    And wild and sweet 
    The words repeat 
Of peace on earth, good-will to men! 

And thought how, as the day had come, 
The belfries of all Christendom 
    Had rolled along 
    The unbroken song 
Of peace on earth, good-will to men! 

Till ringing, singing on its way, 
The world revolved from night to day, 
    A voice, a chime, 
    A chant sublime 
Of peace on earth, good-will to men! 

Then from each black, accursed mouth 
The cannon thundered in the South, 
    And with the sound 
    The carols drowned 
Of peace on earth, good-will to men! 

It was as if an earthquake rent 
The hearth-stones of a continent, 
    And made forlorn 
    The households born 
Of peace on earth, good-will to men! 

And in despair I bowed my head; 
“There is no peace on earth," I said; 
    “For hate is strong, 
    And mocks the song 
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!” 

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: 
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep; 
    The Wrong shall fail, 
    The Right prevail, 
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”

Peace

This week we are focused on Peace. Such a challenge in this world. I taught on this subject yesterday and we had a great discussion. This is part of my journal from Sunday. Pray the peace prayer of St. Francis of Assisi this week, every day. See? Some days we just don't have time to really do anything fancy! That's okay! 

While I was working on the topic of peace, I kept coming back to this song. I didn't know the history of the poem until I  watched a few YouTube videos.  This is a good one: https://youtu.be/oZtNlZmnEMU

Peace to you.

Journaling styles

Since I'm journaling in an old book, there is text already on the page. Sometimes I glue new paper over the top of the page but today I'll show you 2 different styles using the text.  First, in the photo,  is blue writing in the text. It's a style of hidden journaling. Not quite hidden, but very difficult to read. There are times you just need to "vent" and this is a great way to do that.

The second example is to simply use very bold text over the page text. "She passed"

The next line "her prelims" is written in black and then I went back through with a white gel pen covering much of the page text. I like the way this looks!

Blackout Poetry

I am not great at blackout poetry but I do find it rewarding.  If you have never tried it,  you should! My 11 year old granddaughter was excellent at it! Newspapers are perfect for using but an old book works great,  too. Go through the page and circle words. Black out everything else. That's it!

Today my Advent art journal page was already set up with a pocket and a cut out Christmas card as a tag on the pocket. I did it ahead of time. That left a block of text visable above the pocket.  I had already blackened a space and wrote the scripture for today in it (via Mt. Horeb's study in progress) which still left some text. So I did some blackout poetry in that space.  I was surprised at how well it worked.

Sunshine!

This is the first day I have seen sunshine since the 25th of November! Hmmm... windows need washed...

Heres a peek at my Advent journal so far.