Behind the Art with Jen

Hi everyone!  I have to admit that I have been so busy lately with life that I forgot to post last week... ** head hanging in shame***... so today you have a double header of pages from me!

First up is a layout that I actually finished first.  It's one that speaks of honesty and intuition regarding my husband.  I just knew that he was a good guy from the first night I met him.

My husband, Matt, is a worrier.  He is not an optimist usually and often sees the flaws in everything.  I am an optimist and try to see the best in most situations.  So, to say we balance each other is putting it mildly.  We clash on a lot of things but when it comes down to certain things we are the ying to each other's yang, the peanut butter to the jelly, the mac to the cheese... well, you get the idea.  He was not my "type"... he was a red head who was skinny and fairly reserved.  I usually went for the dark haired, bad boy, loud mouth types.  But he was sweet and I listened to my inner heart voice instead of my head.  I'm glad I did.

I had the journaling for this page before I had the idea of how I would use it.  I printed the journaling on vellum paper and knew I wanted to use those little sequins for some fun confetti-in-a-pocket look.

  Here's a closer view of the journaling on the page:

 

 I first added paint to the page and then sewed the journaling as a pocket directly to the page.  I added sequins to the pocket and sewed it up with my machine.  Then I added the chipboard letters in our initials. 

 

 This little love bird trinket was perfect for this page!  I took the "this" clip and added the birds with twine.  A bow made it even more romantic in nature.

 Hearts symbolize love and I had this heart stamp (from Close to My Heart) and stamped it over the paint area.

 

Some puffy hearts over the hanging heart area made this even more lovey!  So cute!  

  

I wanted the paint, hearts, and love text to be peeking out from the strip of paper.  Some of it might be cut off but I just added it for background interest and symbolism.

 

I love this page and all that it means to me and my husband!

Next up is my final page of this month. This one was inspired by a recent workshop I had attended about learning styles.  I remembered the Miles-Briggs personality test and how you are made up of different styles in which we learn or react to learning. Often educators use this to get to know students (or at least we did before Common Core when everyone wants everyone else to learn the same) and differentiate learning to fit their needs.  I am ENFP ( Extraverted Intuitive Feeling Perceiving) in my style.  Which is pretty high in intuition when dealing with issues.  Here is a link to the description of ENFP types in more detail.

 If you want to find out what your personality style is try this quiz.  It's amazingly accurate in description.  I made this page to document my style.

 A peek at how I added paints from this kit and last month's kit.  I also traced the mask with a Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft PITT Artist pen.   Instead of using the whole mask, I just made them into doodled circles.

 The clear, vellum pocket was perfect for concealing my journaling on a card that slips in and out. 

So what is your personality type?  Does the description match what you perceive yourself to be?
This kit was perfect for illustrating my personality.

Weekend Warmup: Is it the Question or the Answer?

Live your questions now, and perhaps even without knowing it, you will live along some distant day into your answers.

Rainer Maria Rilke

I've been wondering...is there a way for us to ask a question, maintain curiosity and explore without being focused on the answer? 

Human nature is such that we seem to want closure and certainty. I know that's accurate for me. In terms of personality type, I'm what the Myers-Briggs experts would call a true ENFJ.

Here's a description of this one of sixteen basic personality types defined by Myers and Briggs (click on the link above to read more about this):

Warm, empathetic, responsive, and responsible. Highly attuned to the emotions, needs, and motivations of others. Find potential in everyone, want to help others fulfill their potential. May act as catalysts for individual and group growth. Loyal, responsive to praise and criticism. Sociable, facilitate others in a group, and provide inspiring leadership.

The J in ENFJ stands for Judger - which isn't what it sounds like. I'm not someone who judges others (maybe myself, though!) but I am someone who prefers having things settled rather than up in the air (vs. perceivers who like to keep their options open . Even without all the data in, I'm inclined to make decisions quickly instead of waiting to have more to go on.

As a result I'm someone who might not have the patience to wait for the answers to my questions. Or perhaps I'm someone who wants to avoid the uncertainty of the open question. Either way, I'm sure I could benefit from a bit more of what Rilke suggests above. 

Live my questions - ask the universe about what I don't know (which is a lot) and then live my life, open to the answers, whatever they may be. And whenever they may come.

Sounds like a real challenge for someone who likes her ducks in a row. But I think it's a more authentic way to be given the reality of life. The answers don't always line up with the questions, they don't always show up when you need them, and sometimes they don't come at all.

To practice being less attached to the outcome of events, this might be just the ticket.

What do you think? I'd love to know.

Our CURIOSITY kit is a great tool for exploring some of these ideas. We have just 2 more for sale. Will one be yours? 

Wishing you a safe, happy and love-filled holiday weekend (for those of you in the US) and a sense of adventurous curiosity.