Soul Journal - Misfits and Finger painting

Well the main part of our journey with Sarah on our Soul Journal is coming to a close. The last of our formal prompts have been given and my results are below. Sarah is letting us soar free to continue our journey in our own way ... my knees a knocking! Actually it is funny that at the start of our journey I would fly through the prompts and eagerly await the next step and loved the homework teasers as they built up the excitement as I wondered what was to come next. However, these last three pages have taken me days to complete ... I've taken my time, not hurried things along by using my heat gun etc. I'd like to think I was savouring the journey but no ... I was actually just trying to delay reaching the end! I feel a sense of loss BUT I also feel really pleased with what i have achieved throughout this journey. I have learnt so much and am thankful to Sarah for her enthusiasm, creativity and support. I intend to keep working in my Soul Journal and look forward to where the journey takes me.

So here are the last 3 pages.

In this first page we had to make a collage from photocopies of Soul Journal pages we had already made ... it was interesting to look at sections of one page and see how they could be used to create something new. I enjoyed doing this page.

This second page of MISFITS is one of my favourites and a technique I will use over and over again.

And finally a finger painted self portrait. I don't like it! It was hard to do the details ... I don't think I really look like that ... I felt uncomfortable creating this page ... I can't do faces! ... I'm crap at painting ... arrrggghhhh. However the wonderful thing I have learnt on this journey is that I can change this page - so I plan to come back to it one day when I feel more confident and reassess it ... decide then whether I will accept it and move on OR change it in some way ... it is my art and my choice! Thank you Sarah for teaching me this.

Needle Felting 101

I have tried my hand at needle felting lately and really enjoy it. Hopefully if I keep practising I'll improve and learn a more subtle way to blend things together. So here are my first attempts and they are being sent off for a swap ... except the fish ... that one went to Mary as her Lady of the Month pressie. Mary makes great needle felting ATC's!

Soul Journal - Collage Potpourri

This week I have been catching up on Soul Journal playing and trying to finish off other odd jobs as well. This week I clearly see what a mess I live in ... hmmm some decluttering is required and I'm not just talking about my house!

So here are my Collage Potpourri pages ...

When reading catalogues and magazines I have now started looking for interesting shapes because I like this magazine silhouette technique ... thanks Sarah.

My Dear Heart thinks this one reflects exactly what my last few weeks have been like! I really enjoyed painting with a plastic fork ... great for texture.

Now this page I am happy with and feel it is complete. I'll be heading back to the Collage Potpourri lists again to do other projects.

And finally we had to go back to our taped pages and alter them. I really liked my taped page and wish I had ignored this bit of homework. This is what I have done so far and I am not happy with it and will come back to it at a later stage.

Over the weekend I am going to try and catch up with my fellow Soul Journallers blogs as it has been a while since I popped in on them.

Shattered & Lost

Firstly I want to say thank you to everyone for their kind thoughts and words during this sad time for my family ... I appreciate the warmth more than you could possibly imagine.

I feel shattered and lost and an overwhelming sense of sadness. Last week I wanted to take care of everyone else. This week I just want to be alone to curl up with my sorrow, to cry the flood of tears that threatens to drown me. I realise I don't see my family enough ... don't tell them how much I love them or how wonderful they are.

I feel frustrated by aspects of my life that don't fulfill me eg my job but I don't know what to do to change these things and my brain feels too fuzzy to work it all out.

Thanks again everyone

Soul Journal - Home Sweet Home

I'm glad that the task of the last few days has been based around our home and our family as we have been very family focused here. On Thursday my Princess received an academic achievement award for her work in first semseter and on Friday it was my Dear Heart's birthday so on Thursday night we went out to dinner to celebrate ... love doing that! On Friday, after being dragged to karate where the floor is freezing!, we had cake and opened pressies. There is something beautiful about giving a pressie that means so much to someone you love that they cry. Yesterday we spent the day in Geelong watching a karate tournament ... incredibly amazing and incredibly cold. Today I got to play again. YAY!

After drawing our houses we had to collage over some of the drawing ... hahahaha I just couldn't stop!

Sarah has shown me that I don't have to panic about perfection. I didn't worry about what I put down on the paper because I knew that this was not going to be the finished product. I felt free to try different scraps, covering up one layer with another scrap if I wasn't happy. There was no negative self talk while doing this task just lots of fun.

OMG! Whilst writing this I have received the most tragic news. My beautiful 21 yo nephew Russell took his life today. I have spent the last hour on the phone talking to my mum and brothers and sisters. I will be offline for a while as I will be heading down to be with my family tomorrow.

I can't write anymore so I'll post the pictures of my painted page and my family.

Soul Journal - My House

We revisited our magazine squares or inchies pages and I am so glad we did as I felt it was looking a little naked or undone .... here it is all prettied up:

I also found this postcard at the Princess's school yesterday and thought it related to our soul armour and maybe even our houses we are now working on.

And finally here is my house. It has wonky walls because we had crap builders and it really does have wonky bits to it!

Soul Journal - Cover Up

I didn't want to cover up my tape! However once I started I enjoyed the process ... I do like sanding.

I have to find a flower to press in my journal ... after 10 years of drought and being the middle of winter I have no flowers in my garden and I've peeked into the neighbours gardens and there are none there either ... boo hoo. But looking on the bright side I'm now off to buy a bunch of flowers ... oh beautiful brightness to banish the winter gloom.

Shock, gasp, horror ... I have been doing actual cleaning today in between reading blogs and sanding my tape pages ... hahahaha. Actually I'm really enjoying visiting my fellow Soul Journal bloggers and getting to know them better ... they are a generous, funny, inspirational, creative, amazing people ... I'm glad I am taking this journey with them.