ABC Wednesday - D and WOYWW

This week at ABC Wednesday, D is the letter of focus.

D is for Dance.

Continuing with my "More" series, focusing on what I want to have more in my life, DANCE  is definitely something I want to do more of. In my twenties, my exercise of choice was dance - I would put on a tape I made and just dance, for 30 or 40 minutes each night. (It was certainly a great way to lose weight!)
There are so many great dance songs - many by lady Gaga and the BeeGees. How freeing it is to just feel the music and dance.

I had to give it up a few years ago when arthritis made it painful to dance. But I have decided I need to start again, with baby steps, to recapture the joy of dancing.

Here are the art cards I created to remind to just dance.

Be sure to check here to see what others around the world do for D.

WOYWW

Each week at Stamping Ground, Julia Dunnit encourages us to share our work spaces and what we we are working on.

I created the backgrounds for the cards above at my art table. Right now it is needing a major clean up. I need to reorganize the whole room - beginning first with finding new homes for my teaching books (well over a hundred books)

Then I finished the cards with the quotes at my dining room table.

ART on Friday

Here are a few things I have worked on this week.There are many challenges each week and I've chosen three this week to do.

Sunday Postcard Art
This week's theme at "Sunday Postcard Art" was "Secret Garden"
I had originally decided to use a number of flower stamps, but when i found this quote, I created this:

Take a Word Challenge
At "Take a Word Challenge" the theme was music.
I had some used stamps of country singers and the quote by Faith Hill worked well.

TIOT
The theme at "Try it on Tuesday" was "Fire and Ice" - or using warm and cool colours."
I have a lot of scrap painted papers and decided to do a cool and a warm page in my small collage book.

Inspiration Quote Card
To help me focus on my OLW (One Little Word)- More -  I am making a set of inspiration cards. Here is the second one I created this week. (The first you can check here which I created for ABC Wednesday)

Linking with:

Paint Party Friday

Inspire Me Monday

ABC Wednesday - C and WOYWW

This week at ABC Wednesday, our letter of focus is C.

C is for create - something I wish to do more of.

My OLW (One Little Word) this year is MORE - and so I created this card to remind myself that I must "Create More".

be sure to check here to see what others around the world did for C.



WOYWW

Each week, Julia Dunnit of "Stamping Ground", encourages us to share our work spaces and what we are creating.

This was my dining room table after I had finished the cards I was working on.You can see a box of letter stencils, bags of stamps, glue, cards and scraps.

ART on Friday

End of the week and time to share some of the art I have been working on this week,

Challenges
I do enjoy several of the challenges that run each week.Here are two I participated in this week:

Sunday Postcard Art
The theme this week was:  Add a tag.

(Check here to participate)

Tag Tuesday

The theme was: Anything goes.

Einstein was talking about Nazi Germany - we have the same conditions now. We can not be silent!

(Check here to participate)

Mini Collages

I have restarted my mini collage book. Here is the first collage this month:

Art Quotes

I am returning to an unfinished art quote book and created this one today:

What have you created this week??

Linking with:

Paint Party Friday

Blogger's Pit Stop

Inspire Me Monday

ABC Wednesday - B and WOYWW

This week at ABC Wednesday, B is the star.

B is for Buddha, whose wise words still resonate.

B is also for "Be Bold" -or living life  large.

Check here to see what others around the world did for B.



WOYWW

Each week, Julia Dunnit of "Stamping Ground" asks to share what our work spaces look like, and what we are working on.
I created the backgrounds with paint and stamps in my basement craft room, which has still not been reorganized. (A must do this year!)

Once done, I worked on the quotes at the dining room table.

ABC Wednesday - A and WOYWW

Here it is - the start of the 22nd round of ABC Wednesday.

For this new round I aim to create a set of quote cards that relate to achieving more this year. MORE is my ONE Little Word and will guide me this year. (check here to see why I chose it)
I received a giant deck of cards for Christmas and my first thought was that they would make sturdy canvases.

A is for Amy - Amy Krouse Rosenthal. Amy is still inspiring me, even though she passed away too soon last March. Her picture books are amazing, her videos inspirational, especially her Ted talk. 
Check here and here for more information about this exceptional woman..

Here is Amy's advice - to start this new year.

Check here to see how others around the world are accepting this new challenge.





WOYWW
I am once again taking part in Julia's weekly meme at "Stamping Ground" - where she encourages us to share our work spaces and what we are working on.
As I finished the card above, I snapped a pix of my dining room table, where I was working.

ART on Friday

2018 has arrived and with it the first Friday of the new year. I am determined this year to create more and blog more regularly.

This week I worked on some art challenges, as well as create some pieces to prepare for this year.

OLW / Dreamboard
My One Little Word for 2018 is MORE. (check here to see how I chose it)

With the full moon on Jan. , I created a dreamboard for the month ahead.

Challenges

Sunday Postcard Art

The theme this week is: CREATE

Take a Word Challenge

The theme this week is "Childhood"

Tag Tuesday

The theme this week is "New Beginnings"

Art Journal Journey
The theme for January is "New Year, New Adventures".
This quote by Neil Gaiman encourages us to make glorious mistakes - and can apply to writing or art.  A wonderful freeing way to start the new year.

Just Create
This week I played with my gelli plate - something I haven't done in a while. I used my bigger new plate and created some papers for backgrounds, using some new stencils I got before Christmas. I will definitely have to do more of that.

I may not have created every day, but I am creating more having fun doing it!




Linking with:

Paint Party Friday

Blogger's Pit Stop

Inspire Me Monday

Over the Moon Link Party

WOYWW

Here we have a brand new year and the first WOYWW of 2018.

I have nor joined in for some time - but since my word of the year is MORE - I need to create more and take part in challenges and memes more.

WOYWW is hosted at Stamping Ground by Julia - who encourages us all to share what is on our work tables and what we are working on.

I have not used my new large gelli plate much at all, so I decided to create some backgrounds for a new project I am starting for ABC Wednesday next week - large quote cards.

Here is my art table: (please forgive the mess - I had been piling stuff in this room to prepare for Christmas.

Here's some of the papers I created:

Happy New Year everyone - happy creating as well!

OLW -My One Little Word for 2018

Happy New Year everyone!

A brand new year means a brand new word to carry me through 2018. Instead of making resolutions (which never seemed to work), choosing OLW has become a treasured tradition, since 2013.
For the past five years, I have chosen a word to represent how I wanted the year to unfold.
My words usually announced themselves; it was never a challenge to adopt one.
I have taken Ali Edwards year long course on choosing OLW and living with it and I found it fascinating and helpful.

My words:
2013 - JOY
2014 - Embrace
2015 - Bloom
2016 - SHINE
2017 - Cultivate

Each word filled a need and helped me navigate through some challenging times - from retiring, to health issues with my husband.
During the past  year I found myself creating less, especially my writing, I have had little routine in my life and am frustrated at how little I accomplished last year.

So this year, I knew I needed a strong word that would force me to do more, to write and create more. The word more just seemed to apply to so many things I wanted to have in my life.

The over-riding theme for this year I want to embrace is:  "Enjoy Life More".

I created my OLW canvas for the year, that will hang in my art room, to remind me that each day I must seek more of life.

There are many resources to help you find your OLW.
Check at Ali Edwards and as well, at Susannah Conway's blog for a free 5 day course.


Join in at "Create With Joy" for the OLW Blog Hop.

What is your word for 2018??