The path through Christmas

So Christmas is over, and Im feeling quietly relieved. From October there has been an onslaught of in-your-face marketing and advertising for all things Christmas, and it feels like time is fast approaching to put the fairy lights and baubles back into their boxes for another year - to refresh the house, take a big deep breath and welcome the approching new year.

Christmas here was spent with my family, and was as usual over laden with the usual expectations that accompany this season. Christmas is never perfect, its messy, there are quiet difficult parts, there are frustrations and this year we spent the day looking after our little girl who became ill, eventually driving into the city to see the oncall doctor at the hospital.

Shes getting better now, but this year Ive opened my eyes wide in more ways than one. Ive allowed myself to just let this day come and go without pinning too much on it, to just let it do its own thing, to gather with family if it feels right, to eat good food and celebrate being together. Its about giving and receiving, but I also know its important not to get caught up in the commerciality of it all, to make time for myself - to sleep, read in bed, drink lots of water, take long deep baths and relax, to keep the true meaning in mind.

And so, it feels like time to open up to new opportunities, test a few boundaries by trying something different...Its time for sitting quietly with new ideas, mulling on them until they feel ready to make real...but its also a time to take a few tiny risks, to promise to do something if not wildly, then mildly radical this year. Its time to grab this life by the hand and vow to dance heartily with it - to look at it with new eyes and embrace all it has to offer us.

Right now in this moment, Im everything I need to be, but with every minute that passes, as more seconds of my life unfurl I am aware that time is passing and that I need to start taking more chances. It would be so easy to hold onto the habits that feel comfortable to me, to carry on living in a way that is familiar but to achieve our dreams we have to be prepared to take a leap of faith into new territory.

This year, Im going for it.

How about you?

Im promising myself new art and sacred creativity time each week, and biggest of all, Im gifting myself with courage to send much more of my art out into the world.

What do you hope to achieve this new year? What are your goals, dreams and desires?

We are everything we wish to be, right now...are you happy with that? If not, what can you do to change that, to be what you truly want to be?

Make a promise to take tiny steps towards achieving what you desire in this life - anything is possible.

Sending huge arm-fulls of inspiration, love and joy to you

J x

Loving the Season

Sending you love, joy and peace this Christmas time!

Its time to rest and relax with family and friends for the next week or so as Christmas and the New Year celebrations fast approach. For me I find this time of year very regenerative, I like to retreat a little to incubate new ideas, and plan for the new year ahead. In some ways I divert from the conventional and use the 21st December, the winter solstice, as my day of resolutions (rather than the 1st of January). I find this to be a much more fulfilling time as the season is changing from Autumn to Winter, and on this day where the hours of darkness far outweigh the hours of light I write a list of intentions, hopes and desires for the following year.

Already, my calendar looks like its going to be full of exciting things - a craft fair with the Craft Candy group is taking place at the end of March in the city, so Im going to be very busy creating work for that, as well as designing and making more lovely hand made cards to sell. I have other projects in the pipeline too - Im hoping Santa got my letter in which I asked for a sewing machine - I also asked him to deliver a few extra hours so I might have time to cram in all these new delicious things Im planning to make and paint!

Im no good at being completely idle, so when we go to my parents house for Christmas time, you can rest assured I'll have an art journal tucked away somewhere just in case (for those moments of spontaneous inspiration), and a bag of yarn and crochet hooks...when you're born with creative juice flowing through your veins its hard to switch off completely isnt it! :)

So all that is left for me to say is a very Happy Christmas to each of you, may your holiday burst at the seams with adventure, discovery, R&R, love and joy. Thank you for reading my blog this year, I look forward to seeing all of you in 2009!

Love to you

Julia x

Yum

Just the YUMMIEST... the most DIVINE tasting cupcakes...

Soft vanilla sponge topped with vanilla buttercream, dusted with Green & Blacks cocoa and topped with a dark chocolate coated espresso bean...

Just had to share

J x