Making A New Year Joy Jar

Club Creative Studio wishes you and yours a very Happy New Year.

The year 2013 can be a full year of inspiration and appreciation if you welcome it into your life. My daughter and I wish to share a project that you too can do to help you kick off the new year.  Are you ready to learn how we are getting our year off to the right start?  If you want to resolve to show more gratitude in your life and appreciate the positive and good things that happen to you, this project is for you.

This is a project that is meant to creatively hold the written positive thoughts and actions of an entire year.

We have cleverly and fondly named our project. We call these creations our “Joy Jars”.  Our decorated jars are going to be the hub spot for our daily written sediments of one aspect in the day that was a positive or uplifting aspect of that day.  So that we can remember the event, on a small slip of cut paper, we are planning to write down at least one highlight of the day that gave us joy.  For an entire year, we hope to continue to fill the jar and stuff in the numerous slips we accumulate.  On New Year’s Eve, 2013, we will begin to open up each tab collected and smile at all of the great things that happened to us through out the year in gratitude. Are you inspired to create your own Joy Jar in 2013?

We went on a hunt to a few of our local thrift stores in hopes to find low-cost and interesting glass jars with lids. We felt pretty lucky in finding jars that cost $2.00 and $3.00 each. I am sure that you may be able to find something even less in price, recycled, or even around your home that would also suffice for the same purpose.

We decorated our jars in different ways.  My daughter used many inspirational word stickers, and decorative tapes on her glass jar.  She placed them on and around her entire jar so that no matter which way the jar was displayed, it would show a decorative side.  She created a simple look but, it is still cute and colorful.

Glass jar decorated with stickers and decorative tapes.

Finished Joy Jar

Completed Joy Jar.

The jar that I embellished included hand-made polymer clay beads, hand-twisted wire, and pink and red seed beads.  I glued the large clay beads on the flat areas of my jar.  The jar already had scroll raised designs so adding twisted wire also added the feeling of movement and whimsy to the over-all look.

I added seed beads to wire on my decorative jar.

I used my hand-made clay beads and wire to embellish my jar.

This is the lid of my jar topped with a hand-made clay bead. It is an easy open lid with the added embellishment.

To get an idea of some of the simple joys that you too may want to add to your “Joy Jar” read a few of the comments shared from the Club Creative Studio Business Fan Page on Facebook.  I asked the fill-in-the-blank question: ____________ brings me joy.  These are wonderful examples of sediments that can be added proudly to a “Joy Jar”. Are you inspired to make your own jar?  Being specific in your highlighted statement will be the best prompt of recalling the gratitude you felt when reviewing it a year from now.

Family brings me joy– Kristy

Peace brings me joy- Anna

Inspiration brings me joy- Dawn

Champagne and the feeling after a workout gives me joy- Lauren

Making Earrings brings me joy- Rachael

When a child really understands something funny, the laughs they bring, that gives me joy- Michelle

Being surrounded by beautiful things brings me joy- Karen

Hearing a baby laugh brings me joy- Lynnette

My kids and husband bring me joy- Valerie

Another Finished Joy Jar

Enjoy creating your “Joy Jar” with your own mark of creativity.

Happy New Year as you take your creative spirit into 2013.  I welcome you to follow this blog for more creative prompts, projects and information. Also, be sure to check out the evolving creativity in Club Creative Studio Art on the website: http://www.clubcreativestudio.com

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Creative Thankfulness (6)

Artist: Veronica Campos-Hallstrom

My Thankfulness Challenge continues, and I continue to document at least one thing during the day that I am thankful for.  Sometimes it relates to art specifically, other times not. Today, is one of those days that my thankfulness relates to my art.

Being artful tends to be a big part of my day since it is also my job to create art on demand. Last night, I heard a news story that stuck in my mind and today it helped prompt my thankfulness in this blog post.  Today’s post tells a story of thankfulness for my hands.

My workplace: Club Creative Studio, is packed with many different supplies and needed tools. There is one element that makes my art creations easy that is often over-looked and taken for granted. Today, I express my thankfulness for the constant use of my HANDS, specifically my fingers as functioning tools that I need daily to make artful creations.

I use my hands daily to create one-of-a-kind artful items.

The news feature that gave me this blog prompt was reported and started out by telling the story of a few men who were enjoying a fishing trip together. When one caught a large fish, there was also a surprise attached. Upon further observation, they discovered that the fish had an unexpected object in his jaws along with the line and hook. Much to their dismay, they discovered that it was a human finger! My first reaction was “eeewww” and I then wondered how quickly the question of who it belonged to could be solved.

As the story continued, they found the man who the finger belonged to. It seems that two months prior, he had lost his fingers in a water sport related accident in the same body of water where the fisherman initially were. Those who had analyzed the finger apparently asked him if he wanted it returned to him. He answered, “Why would I want a two-month old dead finger?” He declined to take it back.

This brought to my mind that this person had moved-on and had adapted to his new method of living his life. He had no use for a finger that would not be of use to him. How often do we take for granted elements in our life that we use on a daily basis?  I think geez, without my eyesight or hands, how would I make beads? I don’t know that answer for sure. But, I am grateful and appreciative of the hands, my main working tool that I use everyday in my creations.

Today, I am especially thankful for my HANDS. For, it is from them that I am able to create and express myself. Making beads, jewelry and art with my hands are at the core of sharing creations with you. It gives me pride to be able to create unique items and share them with you as no one else can because they are made only from one pair of hands…mine.

HAND-made beads from Club Creative Studio

Thank you for wearing and sharing Club Creative Studio Art. HAND-made Art That Sets You Apart!

To view more hand-made items, please visit the changing inventory at:

http://www.clubcreativestudio.com

Creative Thankfulness (4)

Club Creative Studio continues to take part in the Gratitude Project 2012, by posting publicly for 90 days something that I am thankful for. On the days that I blog, I am posting about how something with the creativity theme touches my life in thankfulness.  Today is the 4th post that coincides with this blog.

Special identification/informational tags for Club Creative Studio Art located at the Abington Art Center, Jenkintown, PA

It is with gratitude that I have had an opportunity to display and sell art in a new venue.  Last week, I prepared Club Creative Studio hand-made art to be included with other talented artist’s work within the Abington Art Center’s Gallery Gift Shop shelves.  Laura Burnham, Executive Director of Abington Art Center accepted work and will arrange a space for it to be available to the public for purchase.

Laura preparing to display Club Creative Studio Art at the Abington Art Center.

One-of-a-kind, hand-made pendant from Club Creative Studio.

There are several reasons that warrant my excitement and thankfulness.  I am thrilled to be located in a new area where art and artists are appreciated by many.  I feel that this door has been opened to me so that others can readily see up close and personal what I do when I create Art That Sets You Apart. It is great to have many more local eyes fixed upon what I love to create.

Club Creative Studio hand-made pendant.

Being part of an atmosphere that is a constant support for artists is a blessing.  It is motivating and inspiring to reach higher on a creative level.

Abington Art Center 515 Meetinghouse Road, Jenkintown, PA

I am pleased to offer one-of-a-kind, hand-made art in a variety of venues, especially at the Abington Art Center but, as always online at:

http://www.clubcreativestudio.com

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Creative Thankfulness (1)

Today’s Two-Cent Tuesday post celebrates my third day of the 90-day post challenge called the Gratitude Project 2012.

90 Day Gratitude challenge with my focus on Creative Thankfulness

During the 90-day challenge, I will be happily reflecting on my day to stop and appreciate what I am thankful for. For me, this idea is to gain  humble aspects and count my blessings. Three times a week for this Club Creative Studio blog, I will focus on how I am thankful for creativity. There will be many times that I can document the celebration of creative thoughts with thankfulness.

I had thought about how I wanted to document my expressions, through making a keep-sake journal. And to stay with this theme it is of course a low-cost idea. It is nice that there is a Facebook group set up for many to post for this challenge.  It is also nice that we can share our posts on our personal Facebook walls. I wanted to take this a step further and include my blog and my theme about creativity.  Good luck in creating your own daily reflective space.

As a means to document my posts in a tangible manner, I made a simple, yet colorful painted sheet of paper that I will copy and compile later into a small flip book.  Each page will be filled in with the numbered day and my hand-written declaration of thankfulness for that day across each colored stripe section. The day numbered will be written to the far left on the sheet and the black line will divide the section where I will write my thoughts of thankfulness.

Club Creative Studio flip sheets for daily journal.

The pages were copied and resized from one larger quick painting of colorful stripes painted across paper. I decided to make my whole book pocket-sized so I reduced my original sheet by 50% when I printed it out.  That method also saved some of my computer ink.

You can create your own artful single sheet and copy it just as I did. I could have made this elaborate and with mixed media but I will save that effort for the “cover” of my flip-book.

If you want to copy and paste this image below of my single sheet. I have included it as a larger photo and you can copy and paste it to your computer.

For more information on the 90-Day Gratitude Challenge please check the recent Club Creative Studio Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/clubcreativestudio

Artistic Appreciations

Club Creative Studio is proud to take steps in posting public gratitude by taking part in a new posting challenge.  Inspired by blogging friend, Nicole Bandes, her 90 day challenge is a time for all to express gratitude of any level in our life.  Adding to today’s low-cost creative idea theme: Two-Cent Tuesday post, this idea IS low-cost and a great personal challenge.

Thankful for CREATIVITY!

Adding my own twist to this challenge,  I feel that it is going to be a delightful journey to report daily how I am appreciative of CREATIVITY in my life. I’ll be answering daily questions of what am I thankful for in creativity as well as what I appreciate artistically.  These will be the focus points in my daily posts.  You can write and post about gratitude in any manner you wish to. For the most part, my posts will be brief and hopefully inspirational to creative others as well.  Please feel free to comment and share your gratitude thoughts here for art on the post theme.  I look forward to sharing more creative ideas and educational information with a bit of insight as to why CREATIVITY plays such an important role in my thankfulness.  I am looking forward to expressing gratitude in this manner, I hope that it is an uplifting addition to your day as well.

90 Day Gratitude Challenge with my focus on creative thankfulness/artistic appreciation.

More about MY THANKFULNESS CHALLENGE:

90 days of Gratitude

Starting on August 26th and ending on Thanksgiving Day (U.S.A), 2012.

“What would happen in your life if you spent 90 days showing gratitude? When this project starts there will be 90 days till Thanksgiving Day in the United States. What if you found just one thing to be grateful for every day for the next 90 days? What if you helped to spread this message to all those you knew and got them expressing more gratitude? Could that change the world? In 2009, Nicole Bandes started posting her gratitude daily on Facebook starting in the beginning of November. She did this consistently for the remainder of the month and liked the results so much she never stopped. Gratitude can change your life. Gratitude WILL change your life if you let it. It is such an incredibly simple thing to do. And, while many things are simple but not easy, this is also easy. It takes very little time to record one thing for which to be grateful each day.”

~ Nicole Bandes, Coach, Speaker, Author of The You Coach

Register your participation and sign up for the Gratitude 2012 newsletter full of tips and gratitude prompts at http://goldeneaglescoaching.com/gratitude-project-2012/
Join the Facebook Group at http://www.facebook.com/groups/positivityonpurpose/.

Are you planning to take this 90 day Gratitude Challenge?

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