Planner Peace or Pursuing* the* Unicorn?

Dear Perusers:
I tend to agree with Rhomany over at Rhomany's Realm that it may be a myth..after all 'planner peace' is a bit of a  'unicorn'?
However being ever hopeful and now fully addicted to planners, dori's (both midori and faux), hobonichis and fauxbonichis and assorted bullet journaling techniques as well, I took what worked for me and came up with the following. I started out with the bullet system and after a month found it didn't work as I needed to see at least 2 months ahead all on the same page.
So I cobbled together whatever my butterfly mind could glean from watching youtubes and reading blogs on the subject. 
To show you how I set mine up,  here goes:
I unearthed my 'ARC' (aka Discbound) punch (bought a couple of years ago in a fit of  'maybe I will find this useful' and 'macgyvred' the Rumi Dayplanner I was given this year.
As you can see, WASHI TAPE is my FRIEND.
I also ordered Tangie Baxter's Tangible Plans  and used a few of her templates to create my Weekly Blessings and Notes page. I found that the ones I chose originally are too busy and dark to really see what I was writing so I will revamp with boxes that are lighter in colour for the next set of months.
I am glad I am doing this now, as I can pick and choose what will work when I take this 'on the road'.
The whole works, my BrainDump journal (created from a Home Depot brochure) and RumiDori along with HER DISCS! fit neatly into my BMWdori as it has a soft spine. Pleased me to no end, let me tell you!
You might be wondering about those turquoise blue thingies: they are my left and right dashboard covers aka page turners made from a plastic cinnamon roll container and cut down to size and washi'd the heck out of them. They are a wonderful invention (Thanks Kent!) and I can immediately go to my Day and get started without 'all that mucking about in hyperspace'.

So far. so good.
Blessings to all Planners and Unicorn Pursuers out there.

Mandala'ing Along - January Mandalas 21-32

Dear Perusers:
I cannot honestly say that this has become a daily habit with me, but I have been trying to do at least one or two every couple of days. I seem to start one in the morning and finish it off at night.
So on top of the 20 I have already created and posted: here are a dozen more mandalas all created within the 2nd and 3rd week of January.
I vary from the geometric to zentangling to typography. Right now I am at the end of a year long series of daily Rumi quotes which gave me inspiration for two of the 'wordy' mandalas in this series. 
May the Mandala Muse bless you this week with Creativity. Thank you for popping in.

Our Shadow Selves Norway Bound!

Dear Perusers:
When I looked in on my twitter community the other day, the hashtag '#twitterartexhibit' was being tossed about in various conversations and the most amazing artwork was being shared.
Being the inquisitive bug that I am, naturally I asked, What is this?
It is a Global Art Exhibit held once a year for a Charity (anywhere in the world, this year it is Norway's Home Start Moss) and the call for both professional and amateur artists to contribute had been broadcasted via the twitterexpress.
Here is the link should you be wanting to join in: twitterartexhibit.org

In brief:
1) You have to be on twitter to participate as that is how they contact you.
2) Your artwork has to be as flat as possible and postcard size (ie 16 x 12 cm)
3) It has to be at the Norway address by March 1/2015.

And here is what I sent: Title: The Road Goes Ever On and On.



Blessing on all artists who donate their work to a Worthy Cause.

Teaching a Dinosaur to Swim

Dear Perusers:

The title was not my idea, it actually came from a conversation that I had with a dear friend who called herself 'a dinosaur that you will have to teach to swim'. She was referring to the fact that she felt that she had zero/zip in the computer skills department.
Like so many women of my zoomer generation, the computer age had indeed zoomed by them and though they can text with the best of them, when it comes to doing things like 'getting those photos downloaded to my laptop from my camera', that particular skill was never taught.
These are the women for whom family came first be it husband, father or children and they never felt that it was in their best interest to learn how to handle that ' grey box in the corner.'

But now, things are different. 

In my friend's case, her father has passed away and her husband is in care, leaving her with time on her hands. 

And o what a learning curve!
She came over to our house bringing every conceivable cord she could round up, her digital camera (thank god, not film!) her aging but still serviceable laptop and most valuable of all, time and enthusiasm.
Unlike others that Mr Bear and I have taught, Ms L had cleared away the entire day just to do this; she WAS going to learn how to download photos, create folders and sip endless cups of coffee by gum!
And so after spending the entire afternoon with us, she went away with just enough skill (we tried not to overwhelm her) and her triumphant texts to me over the next few days were gratifying to read. 

One went as follows, "I have created 19 folders!' and gone through and LABELED over 300 photos!" The push for her to do this was her most recent trip to China (photo on this blog post is hers) and the longing to share her photos with her husband in some kind of format other than lugging the laptop to the care home.

How true it is that when the pupil is ready, the teacher appears and not before.

Blessings on all those swimming dinosaurs out there.

'Almost Daily' Mandala

I like the idea of doing a daily Mandala and even made myself a handydandy diamond folded blank zine template with a 8 scribed circles on it to carry around with me since  I have found that having a sharp pointy compass in your pencil case is sometimes an 'interesting' experience.
Much safer for fumbly fingers such as I.
The Muse was encouraged to visit me, and she did when I made time for her. (hello, note to self, pay attention here).
I am going to persist and perhaps fueled by more cups of beanjuice I will continue to 'circle the square' and share the results on here and on the Pinterest site (see sidebar for 100 Mandala info).
Blessings of a New Start!

Word of the Year January Mandala Community Project

Almost a Mandala...
Kathryn of Truenortharts.com and 100Manadalas.org sent out an email asking folks if they would like to contribute to the Community Project using their Word of the Year. I said yes as this was something that I had not done before and was going to be a delightful challenge -
a) you had to stick to the shape emailed to you, no going outside the lines
b) you had to stick to the colour you were requested to use (in my case, shades of  BLUE)  along with black white grey so no going wild with the fuchsia or purples! (darn lol)
Here is what she sent me to colour or alter.
The shape reminded me not only of a Leaf, but a Flame as well.
Since my Word of the Year would fit this wonderfully, I then had a good think about what else it looked like. Hmm..how about a Peacock Feather?

Once that was coloured in and after a good slug or two of  beanjuice, I fought with my aging crashing software program to produce this:

Ta Da! Not too bad if I do say so meself! I chose ILLUMINE as my word for 2015 as it implies not only action but service (for example: enlighten, to bring light). I hope to keep this in the forefront of all that I do in 2015 so that I can help shed a little light in a dark corner.
I can hardly wait to see what my contribution will look like in the giant Mandala that Kathryn is creating with 35 others!  WOOHOO!
Blessings of the Gregorian New Year to all who read this.
May 2015 bring you ever closer to your heart's desire.  

Solstice Blessings on You All.
May the Light of the Midwinter/Midsummer illumine your way.