Soul Restoration Blog Hop: A Life Well Lived

Hi all! Welcome to the Soul Restoration Bloghop!  If you've just hopped over from Donna's Orangalicious page, welcome! If you've stumbled here through elsewhere, also welcome! 

So, late last year, on one of my favorite websites, Bravegirls Club, I learned about Brave Girls Camp.  While I can't attend a Camp yet (someday I hope to...) I was able to take the Online version, Soul Restoration.  It was a wonderful experience that, while the class itself is over, I'm not actually done with. I don't know if I'll ever be done!  

I've been pondering the Soul Restoration experience, trying to decide what I should focus this blog post on, and honestly, it's hard finding one thing.  So, I think I'm going to focus on the effects the class had for me (after all, I require my students to write a cause/effect paper, why shouldn't I!)

To me, Soul Restoration is about making time for ME. What's very funny/ironic about that statement, as my friends will tell you, is that I am, at least so far as anyone else is concerned, All About Me... And I try to be fairly honest with myself in that regard.  But, I'm a professor, with 8 classes, and a mortgage, and a sometime boyfriend, and cats, and problematic vehicles and schedules, and an extended family whom I love and all those things that come with a Life Well Lived.  Having had (and still having) a Life Well Lived, I lost sight of who I am. The Me I wanted to be 15 years ago, fresh out of college.  The Me I planned to be heading into graduate school. The Me who got lost in all the ephemera of the daily grind.  I admit, I was able to get some of that Me back each time I got laid off (4 times... apparently it's my "thing"...), but then I would lose that bit of Me in the day to day stuff that happens... You know, teaching classes I don't love (I like them, and I love my students, but I don't love the classes), dealing with people who either don't know how to be helpful or just won't be helpful,  paying the bills, cleaning the house... you know, all the things we have to do, but don't really want to do...  Somehow, without even realizing it, I had lost my self.  Soul Restoration showed me that I had lost that Me, and, even better, how to get back to that Me. 

Throughout the course, Melody provided encouragement and a place to be safe. Nothing I posted in the forums would be ridiculed (admittedly, I didn't post a lot, but it wasn't through lack of desire) and anytime I had a concern, someone, either Melody or Kathy or other BG staff-type folk, or one of my Restoration colleagues, would address it. Whether it was a concern about how far behind I'd gotten, or that I occasionally felt like a fraud, no comment I made was looked down on. And in this age of anonymous, scathing, and often just downright reprehensible online behavior, that was soooo refreshing! It was wonderful to know that there was a place I could go online and talk to other women about the trials of just living life! 


And the art!  See, I've never one for the "self-help" book idea. Possibly because I am an English teacher, so pretty much all I do for work is read. So, when I read outside of that forum, I want to read a basic story to take me out of myself for a while.  But Melody came up with an awesome way to have us ponder what we need to improve about ourselves, why we might need (and want) to do that, what we need to change to make those improvements, and then how to go about doing it through the art! And as a non-arty crafter, that was awesome for me!!!  I created art pieces!!!! Whoo-hoo!!! Possibly my favorite, and the type that I'll continue for years to come, are the Truth cards.  Kinda like ATCs, but better.  

Even though I haven't technically finished (I still have some art stuff to finish up and a number of things I want to revisit) I feel much more secure in my Me-ness... Which means that I'll be a better teacher, a better daughter, a better sister, a better friend, a better crafter, and maybe, one day, a better artist.  Basically, a Better Me.   

So, how can you Restore?  Here's how!

Join us for the powerful and fun online workshops taught by Melody Ross that are being enjoyed and loved by women all over the world! Soul Restoration on-line classes - Now expanded to TWO sessions: Soul Restoration Part 1 – Finding Your Truth (6 weeks) April 5, 2011 Session: $99 – Register HERE and Soul Restoration Part 2 – Living Your Truth (6 weeks) For graduates of Soul Restoration 1 only June 7, 2011 Session: $99 – Register HERE

Interested in following the rest of the Soul Restoration Bloghop?  Go see Judy at My Crafting Room next! Thanks for visiting!

My First SU! Workshop!

So, last Saturday, I held my very first Stampin' Up! Workshop as a demonstrator!  I was also the hostess for this one, and let me tell you, it's a lot of work being both! Especially when you're already over-busy with the "real" job! Not only did I have to get the house all clean and pretty (thanks, Amy, for all your help with that! You're awesome!) I also had to plan the menu and the projects!

For snackies, I went basic--cheese and crackers, some fruit, brownies, and the not-so-basic bacon-wrapped smokies (so good.  so not good for you...) And again, thanks to Amy for wrapping the wieners (lol!  that just sounds so wrong to me!!!) So, I think the food-stuffs went over pretty well.

For the crafty-fun portion, I planned two cards--a basic greeting card and a gift card holder card.  And since we're in Sale-a-bration, I decided to use one of the SAB sets--the Punch Bunch.  I also used a hostess set I received at my last Workshop before becoming a demonstrator--Cute by the Inch.  If I do say so myself, I think the cards I planned are really cute!  Here're some pics:

Good for Business cards or Gift cards! LOL!

So, I had about 6 guests come to the workshop, including my momma!!!  I think my guests had a good time, and I was able to get some pics of most of their creations.  I have to say, the best part of being a demonstrator so far, is seeing what my guests created using my basic idea.  I'm just giddy at seeing what they did! 

The work area!  Sad to say, at my house, all we've got is the coffee table...

My momma!  and the inside of her card!

Ms. LaRita's card (and she didn't think she could do it....)

Now, of course, in true Rana fashion, I prepared too many supplies (I do the same thing in cooking...) So later on, I decided to use those supplies and make some more cards (I had fun...)  Here's what I made:

All cards using the Cute by the Inch hostess set.  Quite possibly, my favorite set....

Sweet Summer & Punch Bunch Sale-a-bration sets, punches, and the Funky Four set. And markers!  I love Stampin' Write Markers!!!! In fact, I'm a little bit jealous--one of my guests, Lynsey, ordered the whole set.  I want!!  Maybe for my birthday...

And of course, no crafty evening would be complete for me without some help from the kittehs...

Buttercup either wanted to use the wheel, or eat the wheel...

Dobby just decided to lay there and be cute.  And you must admit, he is teh kewt....

So there it is!  My first workshop, and it's aftermath! Lol!!  Thanks to all my guests for coming out, I hope you had as much fun as I did!

SU! Brights Patterned Hearts Wreath

So, a few weeks ago I mentioned a wreath I was planning to make with Stampin' Up's Designer Series Paper Patterns Stack - Brights Collection.  I finally got it done, and then finally got the pics taken and uploaded (iPhoto isn't working, so I'm learning to use Picasa.  I figured out how to crop photos! Whoo-hoo!!!!) So, here it is!

The hearts themselves are just a light cardboard from a calendar or something, and I Mod Podged the papers to the shapes, before hot gluing the whole mess to a wire wreath form from Michaels (and hey!  I didn't burn myself once!  go me!!)

The butterflies were punched out of the basic Brights cardstock with the SU! Butterfly punch.

I made sure to include at least one heart in every color, and in both patterns (the paper is 2-sided; very cool...)

The wee little accents in the center of each butterfly were punched from the patterned scraps left over, using the flower punch from the SU! Punch Pack set.

So there it is! Hope you like it!

Art Journaling, here I come!

Well, sorta... See, many areas of my crafty life have been neglected lately, including the art journal I was planning to start, mainly because my working life has taken over. 8 classes'll do that to a girl....

So anyways, I was at Walmart the other day with a friend of mine, and I found some oil pastels.  I've been wanting to play with them for a while now, but I just wasn't willing to pay the kind of prices I found them for at Micheals.  So, I bought them at Walmart!and tonight, I finally got to play a little bit!

The result--I can't draw... But I had fun anyway!!!!

My silly girl... Looks like she was drawn by a 3-year-old, huh... lol!

My nifty heart!  I just had fun playing with color and blending here.. 

So there you have it.  My first forays into oil pastels.  Now, if only I could actually draw things..... :D