2014 - Update! Goals and Chasing Joy.

Good Morning!
Yes months and months have gone by, we have had Christmas and new years, and a long line of family birthdays! My my the last few weeks have been tiring and lovely all at the same time! I made it one of my goals to try and blog and do a video at least twice a month! (start small and work my way up) The school holidays are in full swing currently, with a lot of minecraft happening...

 we had a big Christmas this year, as we do most years now John and I are together, between us there is a lot of family members. Elijah turned 7! and is on his way to grade 2 this year! and little Boo, is ready to start her journey at big school staring Kindy this year aswell.

 2013 started off with a bang, with me getting engaged, and a whole whirlwind of things happening, including the highs and lows of my weightloss journey which I have written about in the past on here. I am still struggling with the balance between this journey and the rest of me. So I decided that for 2014 I would chase one thing, and one thing only.

I decided that this word would pave the pathway for my everyday for 2014, I want to chase joy, and chase it with my arms wide open...so if something doesn't bring me joy...I need to change it up.

With my word safely thrown over my year like a butterfly net, I decided I needed some other goals to live by, as it seems I always set out with the best intentions as most people do! but this year I really want to do the things I set out to do January 1st. I joined a group 12, 52, 365 where we pick goals to do once a week, once a month and everyday....or just one of those, I jumped in with a goal for each category!

To read a book every week for my 52 goal...currently I'm on my second book for week two began yesterday.  Below is the book I finished for my first week..and what a wonderful book it was.

 I decided that for 2014 I wanted to put pen to paper for at least 10 mins a day in my written journal, and in my art journal...of course my new beautiful art box my dad gave me, made that job an absolute pleasure to work in day in day out, I can tote my fave supplies from the studio to the couch each day with no problems...Its one of my fave gifts of the season.

My Midori Travelers Notebook  is my written journey, and it is where I put photos, and daily writings, which I am dating for the first time in years! my way of staying accountable is to date the pages so I dont miss any...everyday commitment. It doesn't take me long, I've been inking my pages up with splashes of distress stain just to give it some visual interest, and sometimes some photos or stickers, as I take so many photos, this is a way to use them in here, and in my art journal.

 It has been a long time since I've kept a proper written journal, and I am enjoying the process again. It doesn't take up much of my time, and I know once I reach day 365 I will have a nice little line up of finished Midori notebooks to show for it.
I will do a whole post devoted to my Midori Journal in the coming weeks, as I know there are many that would like to have a look at it.

 and of course, the other thing with my 365 goal is pen to paper in my art journal, now 2013 was not a good year for my art, I barely picked up my art journal in 2013, and when I did, what I created within the pages felt wrong..and lacking life and love. Once I finished my big sewing book, no journal seemed to feel like home...I even tried getting out 6 or 7 journals and working in heaps! which was a train wreck waiting to happen.
So this year, I picked up my strathmore journal which I got last xmas as a gift from my mum, and just started working in it, it already had pages from my Jane Javenport Stencil post in there, so there was some bright life on the pages already...so I ran with it... The Friday Pages blog post will come back this year, with everyday arting, there are quite a few pages that will need to be shown!

 Last year, I won a scholarship to the amazing Print and Scan Workshop with Jane Davenport...I was humbled and totally overwhelmed with emotions at getting a spot when only two were given away, this year I am taking my business to full flight, once I work through the course, and do all my homework, my images and journal pages will be available as Fine Art Prints in 2014. I also want to start working on one of a kind Fabric pieces featuring my artwork, so keep and eye out for that!
There will also be one off original canvases going up into the store as well, I have to finish off my commissions and then I will be jumping onto that moving train with gusto. As of now, I will no longer be doing commissions until further notice.

as for planners! well there will be many a blog post on those! from what I'm using for 2014, to the amazing binder that now has my wedding planner in it....stay tuned! It is lovely to be back, and thank you to all who emailed me over my hiatus to check to see if I was doing ok! It is such a heartwarming feeling when I got the odd email here and there. They are all appreciated.

How is your 2014 shaping up! and what is your word for the year!
xx Courtney.

Friday Round Up - Art and Life.

Instead of just Friday pages, I thought I would change it up, and do a Friday Round Up, tidbits from our week, more mine than ours I guess, as I am the one behind the camera all the time!
the 6:30 wake ups have been KILLING me!

 

barely awake, but trying hard! I have a goal to reach by Christmas, and maybe just maybe I will make it. 

 

trying to keep up with my daily writing, knowing it is helping me, get ideas out of my mind and onto my paper. and my planner, the brains of life hehe.

working on art for a dear friend of mine, just the base layers so far, soon they will have more on them! little canvas board filled with original art.

a page from a journal swap I am in, where each month I sent a journal page to a woman in the group, this page's theme was 'black and white' I struggled very much with this, till something clicked and before I knew it, I was finishing it up!

working on homework for Jane's class JOYnal, a dancing flower fairy! she is still very much a work in progress, but I am at least liking how she is turning out!

every afternoon, I pick this little man up, and he makes my heart sing, telling me all the things he did that day, asking me way too many questions and generally being adorable.

so how was your friday?
xx Courtney

around here...

Images from the last two weeks...alot of baking, catching up on project life filofaxing and general loveliness...
how was your week?
xx Courtney

Around the Nook

It's Saturday and we have a house inspection, so I shall make this short and sweet and there is much to do! Around our nook, there is anything impressive happening, I turned 29, we had an epic Easter, lots of egg hunts and hat parades, we've gone to the mountains to check a wedding venue..and there has been some of the following...

 

 Curling up under a rainbow quilt and reading for 30 mins a day...(post coming on my new way of organizing my day)

 

 Celebrating our little man's achievement with getting his first big big away this year! He is so excited and so are we, he is trying really hard this year, I can see the change in him, wanting to do more, read more learn more, its truly an inspiring thing to witness as a mum.

 Embracing new books! I've heard a few things on this little book and finally I downloaded it onto the Ipad, who says a girl cant be reading several books? I certainly don't! I will start the pages of this one tonight with my cup of tea. I am most excited.

 

and an order from a company called Yes Walker. I am very impressed with my little ballet flats, and they offer free shipping worldwide, with buy one get one free on most styles, so I will be ordering from there again most definitely! They have some really funky flats, which made choosing just two pairs a hard choice! but I got these and some sunlight yellow loafers, both fit very well, loafers are a touch to big but nothing major, the heart ones above fit beautifully and have almost become my new fave shoes.

That's all for around the nook
what's happening in your neck of the woods?
xx Courtney

around the nook

It's a little wet and windy here at the moment, and our zoo trip had to be postponed, the teacup humans were very grown up about the decision which I was surprised about, but they wanted to see the animals happy and not hiding from the rain. So here are some of my snaps from during the week on whats happening around the nook.

playing with ideas, as I create the notebooks and writing papers and digital download sheets filled with nook dwellers.

making sure that I don't get behind on project life, by having pictures printed daily so that they are a constant reminder that they need to be trimmed down and popped into my album, we popped out today to grab some grey ink, we had been running low and soon my images were much too bright! (like highlighter bright) so I relented and replaced the grey ink.

some of my custom 3 by 4 cards in these spreads, about our we try it Wednesday cooking, and the kids making puzzles. 

I organize my images in two folders in iphoto, 3x4 and 4x6 so I know what images are being printed and for what pockets, I found this much easier since printing at home can be wasteful in photopaper when it comes to varying sizes. 

with the school holidays, we tend to let the kids do more electronic treats. which end the moment school starts. One of the little mans fave past times, is playing skylanders on the ipad.

with the weather being awful, there is nothing better than curling up on top of a bunch of cushions with a book, I was half way through this before I stopped for some reason, so I took it from the bookshelf and began devouring it once more.

my inside desk at the moment...yes I have several desks out in the studio, but some days it is just much too hot, so we put up a little desk inside for me to use on things I'm currently working on. My gelli prints waiting to be cut up for my scrappy journal pages, my rabbit book, some books I'm currently reading and odds and ends.

and working on that commitment of being a better friend above is a custom writing paper and envelope I worked on...maybe these will come out in the shop! who knows.

So that's whats happening around the nook.

enjoy the rest of your long weekend if you are an Aussie...and stay safe to the readers in the tornado cylone flood zones in Australia, my thoughts and prayers are with you guys.

xx Courtney

around the nook - Sunday Snippets

not much as happened around the nook this week, we have all been cooped up inside because of john and I being sick...I'm fine now, but John is not recovered. So things have been quiet here this week.

my tea cup humans have amused themselves with playing the wii...and also putting together the puzzles they got for Christmas from their nanna.

  

it started with lily, who randomly bought the box out and sat down quietly, this little independent 4 year old, finished the puzzle with barely any help from us!

  then Elijah got on board and there was silence in the house for an hour, it was truly blissful!

I had fun playing in photoshop making custom project life cards that suited my family and its needs!

I have some beautiful quilts made for me by one of my best friends  if you are into handmade quilts, go check her out! anyway...my birthday quilt served the teacups with the makings of a pretty awesome fort!
As for me...I'm enjoying a few things this week, I am loving the book The Artist's way, also the old classic Little Women thanks to a girlfriend giving it praises.
and my planner...this is the first year I've really used the planner, with notes, reminders, ideas, affirmations, checklists, and a little doodle here and there....its been such a key component in implementing the word organized into my life this year.

 whats happening around your nook?
I am also playing along with Sunday Snippets with Tinnie Girl
Have a lovely Sunday
xx Courtney

around the nook.

around the nook today, is me making notes on post -its for all the upcoming things for the blog. Currently working on the cooking post for we try it Wednesday's.

filling my tummy in the mornings with a Paleomg recipe - Banana Bread which is my favorite thing to do with the brown bananas no one wants to eat, of course no bread is complete without a hot cup of tea. in a deer mug.

lily boo, the budding artist. This girl fills notebooks faster than I can buy them, with her colours and 4 year old drawings, if shes quiet for too long, shes usually curled up in her room drawing...just like her mummy.

and me...on a sunday, finally in a place where I feel things are looking up, where I am happy.
have a beautiful sunday! and I'll see you tomorrow for Monday Mantra.
x Courtney

Merry Elfmas!!

Well!!!! after a beautiful email from a reader, she was worried that I suddenly stopped blogging back in October. And yes, it is true, after the move we were offline for about two weeks, then things just got hectic.

Before we knew it, it was time to get on a plane and fly to Brisbane, and watch two of my nearest and dearest friends get married.

the boy and I got all dressed up to party the night away with them, was such a stunning wedding and my darling girlfriend looked like a princess. We got back to sydney, kept unpacking (since we still have things to unpack and my poor studio is a chaotic mess)
One thing I did embark on was December Daily...so while my mum was still here, (she was our babysitter for the weekend wedding getaway) she helped me put together my book as I wasnt smart enough to pre order the beautiful kit by Ali Edwards. 

Aswell as keeping up with the december daily, my family started a new tradition this year, I thought since we have brought traditions into our faimly from both sides - his and mine, I thought we should start creating some of our own. So we bought on the sly - The Elf on the Shelf. She arrived a few days before the first of december, so mum and I gave her a little make over with a cute skirt and a knitted scarf.

I have been taking notes, and pinning ideas, to get us through the 24 days, having the elf do crazy things to make my little teacup humans giddy every morning. It takes a little effort but it is so worth it, the kids lose their minds in the morning, when they find out what Ellie the Elf has done.
On day one...the boy and I set up the dining room with all our christmas things, tablecloth, plates, decorations, u name it, as a welcome elf breakfast, we had pancakes and strawberries, and the kids got some elf treats.

she came with a book, which we read to the little ones, and John and I also bought a key, so that she can always get into the house after her flight to the north pole every night.
Ellie has been caught...hanging decorations...and getting stuck

taking joy rides on the deer decorations

and evening inviting Rudolf over to play!

 all while I've been capturing it down in my December daily...

I still have some tricks up my sleeve...and I will make sure to take the time to blog about them, so that you guys can see the crazy fun this little house is having in the lead up to chrstimas!
Because we think...

Enjoy your Thursday!
xoxo Love Courtney