Mega Planner Addicts Sale
Pre-orders for The Nice List 2019 open this weekend! Plus: get 20% off any order in my shop this weekend as part of the Mega Planner Addicts Sale. And be sure to check out all of the other MPA participating shops, too!
Today the Mega Planner Addicts Sale begins! If you love planners and stickers and all things cute, this is the sale for you! And I am participating! This weekend only if you use the MPA code (MPASALE) you will get 20% off ANY purchase in my store!
That includes Pre-Orders for The Nice List 2019! Starting today you can pre-order your copy of The Nice List 2019 which will ship in October. And if you use the MPA code, you’ll get a sheet of exclusive stickers FREE with your planner when they ship in the fall.
Be sure to check out all of the cute shops participating in the sale on Instagram. There are so many fun shops, and many of them are offering freebies this weekend, too!
#The100DayProject and #OneRoomChallenge
This month I am launching two big projects: The 100 Day Project and the One Room Challenge. I’m excited to share both with you!
Aloha! It is Wednesday — so much going on! I am fairly certain I have lost my mind. You see, I’m already participating in the One Room Challenge which starts tomorrow. Eek! I’m really excited to show you our Guest Room Refresh as it unfolds — more on that tomorrow.
But then I was reading about another community event on Instagram — #The100DayProject — and I decided I just HAD to do that, too. They are totally different exercises, but both use the same creative muscles.
Michelangelo Buonarroti, the sculptor, painter, poet, and architect, wrote about the flow of creative energy he experienced as “furor divinus” — the divine fire. As creative people we must tend that fire, adding kindling, branches, logs, stoking it and making sure that fire has enough oxygen to keep burning. My fire has been smoldering a bit of late as I have been buried in the business and technical sides of my endeavors. So I am excited that yesterday was the start of The 100 Day Project — a worldwide focus on sparking creativity in any medium. I am jumping in with both feet, committing to my art journal every day for the next 100 days. My project will be an intersection between words and images beginning with today’s piece — a collage using paper, watercolor, and acrylic paints.
I find communal challenges like this great to getting my creative spark aflame. And working in a different medium — visual art rather than words — stretches me and forces me to think differently. Are you doing #the100DayProject ? If so, tag me! I would love to follow along. I learn so much from everyone — new techniques and different ways of looking at the world.
So here we go!
Day 1: Suddenly all my Ancestors are Behind Me | Collage, Mixed Media
Day 2: Creative Muscles | Watercolor, Mixed Media
I’ll have more about the One Room Challenge tomorrow, but here’s a sneak peek. We found this amazing map of Hawaii in the attic of our 1948 Suburban Sweetheart when we were renovating it. This gorgeous map is the inspiration for our Guest Room Refresh. I did a little research about it. It was created by a Hungarian immigrant, trained in Italy, who fell in love with Hawaii and spent much of his life living and teaching in Honolulu. His name was Joseph Feher, and I’ve written a bit about him. Read and enjoy!
Who is the artist?
I did a little research into our inspiration piece, and the story of Joseph Feher, the artist, is fascinating. Enjoy!
A Life of Gratitude
I hope you each had a Merry Christmas! I am recovering from strep throat — super-fun! But I am taking a little down time today to make sure my thank you note lists are up to date. Did you keep lists of gifts as they were opened at your house? .
Making these lists is part of my practice of gratitude. I used to think of thank you notes as a chore, but I have turned them into on of my habits of gratitude in the last few years. After all, they aren’t just good manners; thank you notes are a means of expressing your Thanks after receiving a gift.
So before you put away all of the gifts you received, take a few minutes to write them down and give thanks for such thoughtful blessings from your family and friends! .
I have lots more about gratitude and thank you notes today in a new section on MidModernMama: Gratitude.
I am launching this new Gratitude section with a piece on How to Write Fabulous Thank You Notes and a list of suggestions for Host & Hostess Gifts. I also have a review of AJ Jacob’s new book, Thanks a Thousand where he sets off to thank everyone who makes his morning cup of coffee possible.
And just for fun I have a new list of Bubbles for New Years — champagne and sparkling wine to ring in the new year.
I hope you will stop by and check it out! And thank you! Thank you for being my loyal readers and for setting off with me on this new venture!
XOXO
Angela
Armistice Day • 100 Years
Armistice Day • 100 Years
I spent a few hours today meditating on the music and poetry of The War to End War. In some ways WWI seems so long ago, and yet 100 years is fleeting — a mere blink in time. And the deaths of 8.5 million soldiers (and an estimated 13 million civilians) can not be forgotten. Nearly 22 million people died in four years of brutal warfare.
So I spent time today listening to music of and about WWI, and I made poppies. The poppies are printed with the text of Britten’s War Requiem — poems woven together with the words of the mass for the dead. The poem written across the page is John McCrae’s brilliant “In Flanders Fields.” And this is all layered upon the pages of the gospel of Luke 2: 29-32, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace.”
But it is the MaCrae’s call which keeps running through my head...
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high!
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
To read the entirety of “In Flanders Fields,” visit Poets.org.
Blessings!
A
From @MidModernMama on Instagram
Art Journaling
Art Journaling is part of my creative process, and I am currently keeping two art journals. Get a sneak peek into both of them!
New content today: all about my practice of Art Journaling! I have only taken one studio art class since middle school -- a pottery class in college. So, let's be clear: I am not a trained artist. However, working in other media -- painting, drawing, collaging, scrapbooking, sewing -- unleashes my creativity and stretches me in new directions.
Enter: Art Journaling.
I actually have been journaling and art journaling for years -- I just didn't know that it had a name! I have boxes of journals embellished with photos and collages and sketches in addition to the words I have recorded. I always thought it was a little strange -- not a sketchbook, not purely words. Now I know it is its own medium: Art Journaling.
Today I'm giving you a peek into Art Journaling -- the materials and practices I use as well as the two art journals on which I am currently working. I hope you'll take a look!
Art Journaling
My practice and techniques as well as a glimpse into my own Art Journals.
Order The Nice List
Time is running out!
Place your order today!
Questions? Let me know! And don't forget to order your copy of The Nice List!
