Bowl of Cherries--Slipper Camp Style

Today's Topic: Life is just a bowl of cherries
In the process of wondering where the expression "Life is just a bowl of cherries" came from I created a recent blog post featuring the video and song lyrics.

Bowl of cherries from our kitchen.

Here's my favorite quote from the song:

"The best things in life to you were just loaned
So how can you lose what you never owned

Life is just a bowl of cherries
So live and laugh at it all"

Slipper Camp Activities:

1.     Well yeah, eat a bowl of cherries

2.     Eat fresh fruit every day for a week

3.     Get a cherry/olive pitter and make life easier (Tell your local Pampered Chef rep that I sent you—wink)

4.     Fill your blender with cherries, almond milk, and vanilla protein powder for a cherry vanilla shake

 

5.   Journal Prompt: Create a cherry and the pits post

 

Slipper Camp: A kinder, gentler boot camp designed to assist you in living well.

Camp Motto: Being kind to yourself makes you strong.

Checkout my personal progress and all the tasks on http://www.artfultourist.blogspot.com/ (search key word slipper camp)

Follow along with the  Slipper camp tasks on the Live Safe, Live Well Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/kNACkofit?ref=br_rs

Life is like a bowl of cherries

I used to think that cherries grew on maraschino trees. I never ate fresh cherries until we moved to Florida. Turns out, they are awesome eaten fresh. Prepare yourself though; they do not taste like cherry lifesavers.

 

 

Here’s a bowl of cherries from our

kitchen counter in July 2014.

We eat fresh fruit every day in our home. Serving up the cherries was a dilemma at first because I want a bowl of fruit I can sink my teeth into without hitting a pit in the center.

BING—the magic Pampered Chef™ fairy appeared with a cherry/olive pitter and my life has been tutti-frutti wonderful ever since.

 

Enjoy Judy Garland’s rendition of this 1931 classic and sing along with the lyrics after you swallow that handful of cherries with no pits.

 

Life is just a bowl of cherries
Don't take it serious
Life's too mysterious

You work, you save, you worry so
But you can't take your dough
When you go, go, go

Keep repeating, it's the berries
The strongest oak must fall
The best things in life to you were just loaned
So how can you lose what you never owned

Life is just a bowl of cherries
So live and laugh at it all

Keep repeating, it's the berries
You know the strongest oak has got to fall
The sweet things in life to you were just loaned
So how can you lose what you never owned

Life is just a bowl of cherries
So live it, love it, wriggle your ears
And think nothing of it, you can't do without it
There's no two ways about it
You live and you laugh at it all

 

More information on this song: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_Is_Just_a_Bowl_of_Cherries

NAChattin.com Desires in motion - Goals in action

My business is simply called NAChattin.com. My mission is to provide services that empower, inspire, and encourage, others to live well, live safe, and live creatively.

 

Refined and combined, my current business now reflects the priorities most important to me in my life. The online conversion is now in perpetual motion. It’s such a wonderful freedom to move my goals into action.

 

Here’s my new business card:

 

 

This concept was whittled down from seven areas that I initially wanted to be the focus in my business of living. By narrowing my focus, I am able to earn both the rewards of doing the work I know is best for me and a small income that supports my commitments to my family, my faith, and my calling.

 

 

My inner critic pushed back on these changes saying that I should have only one focus. My heart’s truth of faith, family, and calling won out in this inner argument with the assurance that living wholly and fully, including this new focus is best suited for my growth and healing.

My business is simply called NAChattin.com. My mission is to provide services that empower, inspire, and encourage, others to live well, live safe, and live creatively.

Website Home page: www.nachattin.com

 

Living Safe

Living Creatively

Living Well

Facebook

Pinterest

 

Follow Me:

Instagram: nachattin

Twitter: nachattin

 

My blog post on January 28 http://www.artfultourist.blogspot.com/2014/01/mixing-it-up-bit.html announced the beginning of this mission.

Bipolar Disorder--Healing doesn't always mean a cure but it can prevent death

The number one cause of premature death in people with bipolar disorder is suicide. http://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/resources/briefing-papers-and-fact-sheets/159/46

Robin Williams had bipolar disorder. Lots of well-known people have bipolar disorder.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_with_bipolar_disorder

 

 

·         I have been in treatment for bipolar disorder since 1996.

·         I see a counselor and a psychiatrist every month or more frequently if needed.

·         I call myself the poster child for the “take your mental illness medication club”

·         I’ve shared my bipolar adventures with limited audiences at various intervals of my life.

·         I struggle with the stigma and shame of mental illness.

·         I get angry with misconceptions and jokes about bipolar disorder.

·         I love being who I am and where I am.

 
 In the words of Katherine Brooks, “I actually believe it makes everything I do have more meaning, passion, and purpose. I’m thankful to be this way … thankful to be born Bipolar.”

Bring Change to Mind and the the National Association of Mental Health offer fabulous resources for understanding mental illness including bipolar disorder. Take a minute to bring change to mind:

http://www.bringchange2mind.org/

 

This is my senior portrait from college. At the time, I felt like there were two sides of myself--the calm and the crazy. Foreshadowing at my best...

 

We represent the lollipop kids...

I've been combing Pinterest for "pun" gifts. Stuff like an Owl image and the words "Owl always love you" or chocolate bars with a card that says, "you're the best, bar none." Supposedly these were for business promotions and gifts, but then the OBESSION kicked into the mix.
 
The obsession is candy bouquets. There is nothing new about candy bouquets. I made them in coffee mugs as gifts in the 80's and taught them several times as workshops.
 
My first venture into Candy Bouquets 2014 was a miserable failure. I should have taken pictures, but I was rushed. Bottom line: I had the wrong candy, the wrong Styrofoam, and I was rushed.
 
I was ready to give up. I promise I was totally ready to give up. I put the supplies away and put the candy in an area approved for in-home consumption. However, the sugary bright arrangements of confection would not release me.

I kept pinning ideas and pondering designs. I found myself  in stores picking up containers that would work well as a base for a candy bouquet. Then the containers jumped into my cart and followed me home.

Last week when I was out running errands and getting ready for our trip to California--it happened. I drove past a candy warehouse. It was right on my way home. I'd never noticed it before. This miraculous reveal right in front of my eyes was a sign from somewhere (probably not from the heavens) that I must move forward with the candy project.

A quick U-turn and I was there. An hour later I was leaving the store with brightly colored lollipops and a receipt (no refunds allowed) for $26.92.



 
Apparently the time was right for Candy Bouquets 2014. After only a couple hours I had four candy bouquets and 3 pieces of leftover candy (not counting the lollipop I taste tested for purely scientific reasons).

They are now all posted on my Pinterest Page under gifts.

Total supply cost including containers, ribbons, and better Styrofoam was $8.79 per bouquet. Not a bad cost for a gift and about the same as a bouquet of grocery store flowers. With good fortune and no similar OBSESSIONS on the horizon--I should be finished with my Candy Bouquets 2014 adventure. You never know though, I've always been a "sucker" for lollipop bouquets.

We'd like to welcome you to Munchkin Land.

Doodling

I am wordy even when I doodle :) I used watercolor

pens to highlight this quote.

 

 

Much of my art time in the last week or so has been spent with a sketch pad in front of the TV. I’m doodling and enjoying the process. I am posting some pictures of how my original doodle art pieces get started.

Elevate your doodles, feel the ink on the paper and let it swirl.

I usually use a permanent black ink so I can

color later if I choose. I work small and then

cut the images out.

I start with a sketch pad most

often. I also like book pages

kid's art, and notebook paper

as a base.

 

 

You, yes you, are creative

My motto in life and in business is "live safe, live well, and live creatively." I have never encountered anyone who said they could not or did not want to live safe or live well.

The creative part though--that stumps a few. The most common response is, "I've never been creative, I just can't do that, or I don't know how to be creative."

Doodling is a craft, doodling as hair on a face

is creative. copyright nachattin.com 2014

I read a blog post this week that beautifully and succinctly expresses living creativity in terms that are easy to understand.

Creativity isn't about whether or not you can draw or write or sing or scrapbook--those are crafts that require skills. You can develop skills. Creativity, however, is about the approach to your skills.

"That’s when I understood that anything you might consider ‘art’ is made up of two parts; creativity and craft. The craft is the artistic skill to make the art, while creativity is the spark of life or the ingenuity behind it.
 
That also made me understand that when someone says they aren’t creative, they are mistaking creativity for craft."




Here's a direct link to the entire post:
http://meshack.com/creativity/changing-this-one-thought-lead-to-better-life/

Creativity is within us and all around us. If you've ever had an idea, you're creative.

Should I adopt another new year?

I might just need a summer new year. As I journaled and mediated and worshiped and prayed this weekend I realize that I currently celebrate three new starts during the year.

 

There’s January when the calendar year changes. There’s Easter when I celebrate the renewal of life with the resurrection, and there is September, which I’ve written about before—the back to school new year (something about those school supplies gives me a call to set goals, organize and start projects).

 

Chart from David Allen's GTD web site

For my spring new year I have been studying and practicing the methods David Allen promotes in his book, “Getting Things Done.” One of the most appealing aspects of his system is to release the lists that are spinning in your head and get more done by trusting your list.

 

I’m a big fan of emptying my head. That is one of the reasons I am devoted to journaling and journaling in the 80% written format. It empties my head. Now I’ve found a method that promotes me emptying my head. Is this the answer to my unquiet mind?

One of my recent journal pages- I write
more than I create designs. Artful lettering
and written work with ink/paint background.

So far, it’s working when I work it. My lists feel too long and jumbled. I want to go back and review how he explains making choices based on my priorities. He uses the analogy of a plane on the runway and increasing miles above the ground to explain this theory.

I have not been playing in my studio nearly as much as I desire. It’s a state of chaos in there which may be my biggest deterrent and not this new system.

 

Today I am home unexpectedly. I am going to empty my wandering brain and clear my inbox. Wishing you a joyful and abundant Spring.

 

Protect and Retain

 Today’s Slipper Camp Workout #12

Practice Self-Protection and Retention

 Memorize the appearance of one stranger and describe them later in the day so that someone else would recognize them. Consider height, weight, hair, skin, clothing, and age. Practice using your pepper spray for maximum effectiveness.


The hardcore pepper spray from
Damsel in Defense--$10.00 can
get you a long way from trouble.

 

Tip: (Thanks to Michelle Guercio at a recent Damsel in Defense event) On the way out of many fast-food restaurants and other stores there is a height chart to increase the ability of judging height for a “Creeper.” Find the chart in a place you frequent and use it for your workout.

Even if you have to use the pepper spray, do what
you can to remember what the creeper looks like.

 
Review my Pepper Spray You Tube Video Here:

 

Slipper Camp: A kinder, gentler boot camp designed to assist you in living well.

Camp Motto: Being kind to yourself makes you strong.

Checkout my personal progress and all the tasks on http://www.artfultourist.blogspot.com/

Follow along with the  Slipper camp tasks on the Live Safe, Live Well Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/kNACkofit?ref=br_rs

Gratitude Practice

Walking outside in Florida mean "critters." I appreciated
this snail one day--especially the fact that he was
on our mail box. SNAIL MAIL ROCKS.

Today’s Slipper Camp Workout #11

Gratitude Workout:

 

Go outside, look around and be thankful for one thing you normally take for granted in nature. Marvel at the beauty of one plant that provides oxygen to the world, at the sky overhead whether sunny or cloudy and how changes in climate create the cycles of nature. Appreciate one bare tree that means you can see the beautiful shape of branches without distraction. Remind yourself that being thankful lifts your spirit.

 

Bonus challenge: Try this every time you step outside for one week or longer.

 

 

Slipper Camp: A kinder, gentler boot camp designed to assist you in living well.

Camp Motto: Being kind to yourself makes you strong.

Checkout my personal progress and all the tasks on http://www.artfultourist.blogspot.com/

Follow along with the  Slipper camp tasks on the Live Safe, Live Well Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/kNACkofit?ref=br_rs

The ATC (artist trading card) vs the ACEO (artist card editions and originals)

ATC

In 2003 I wrote an article for "RubberStampMadness" magazine about artists' trading cards. Here is the introduction:

ATC by Norma Anne Chattin 2003 uses

a stamp from the Claudine Helmuth collection

with Stampington.

The Artist Trading Card, known as ATC, is a 2.5” by 3.5” miniature work of art usually created to trade with other artists. Eager traders love these small art forms because they offer the opportunity to try out new techniques, learn from other artists, and can be used to make larger projects. The original concept and size requirements comes from baseball and other trading cards.

Everyone from fine artists to the youngest beginner have jumped on the ATC band wagon.  The appeal includes:

• Easy to create in multiples
• Great way to try new techniques/tools
• Perfect for swaps with other artists
• A social art form
• Collectible

The original guidelines for ATC are 2.5" by 3.5", handmade art, and never sold only traded.

 

The photos published with the article were ATCs created by some of my friends in Richmond, Virginia as well as participants in a mail-in swap.  





ACEO

 

ACEO by Norma Anne Chattin 2014, collage.

Photo from BBC.com

A newer phenomenon has developed with the introduction of the artist card editions and originals, known as ACEO, which are original artwork or a print of original artwork.

Like ATCs, ACEOs may be made with any media, material, or method as long as they measure 2-1/2" x 3-1/2".   ACEOs are made with the intention to sell. .

The case of the missing photos...

I adore the BBC Sherlock. Season 3 just started.

I like how the episodes run about 2 hours--like a

mini-series.

I can't seem to locate the photos on my blog posts from January 2013 all the way back to 2007. Perhaps someone with more understanding of Blogger could help me out here?

What I know is that the vast majority of my photos have always been uploaded from my computer. These seem to comprise all the missing photos.

I drew/doodled this! I'm very excited. I was inspired by a

 design on Pinterest, but still, I love it.

Only lately have I been using photos directly from my phone without editing.

Since we're talking mysteries here...I recently joined an ATC swap group that will feature a different European city as the theme every month. February was London for the theme and embossing for the technique.

Here's the mystery part---I made two of my ATCs with Sherlock Holmes images.

Now please, someone, anyone? Even Ferris Buhler--please help me solve the mystery of disappearing photos. THANKS.

Watch Where You're Going

Today’s Slipper Camp Workout--Workout 8



While you watch where you're going, hold your stun
device and your alarm or pepper spray in your hand.

 

Every time you exit a door to the outside—pay attention.

Tips/Enhancements:

·         Look around you and note if there are other people lurking or on their way somewhere as well. Look around your car before you unlock the door.

·         Don’t remote unlock until you are within opening distance of the door.

·         Remember where you parked.

·         Note the proximity of any windowless vans.

·         Look people in the face and nod or smile. Review how you would describe them to someone else.

 

Slipper Camp: A kinder, gentler boot camp designed to assist you in living well.

Camp Motto: Being kind to yourself makes you strong.

Follow along with the  Slipper camp tasks on the Live Safe, Live Well Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/kNACkofit?ref=br_rs

Morning Glory

Cookie, one of the Slipper Camp
mascots--bright eyes in the morning

Today’s Slipper Camp Workout: Workout 9

Wake up Refreshed and ready:

 Go to sleep tonight after 30 minutes of no TV or computer. Thoughtfully and gratefully accomplish   bed time tasks:

·         Lay out your clothes for tomorrow

·         Wash and moisturize your face (yes, men need this practice too)

·         Floss and brush

·         As you lay in bed practice deep, relaxing breathing and picture yourself in a beautiful, relaxing place

 

 

Slipper Camp: A kinder, gentler boot camp designed to assist you in living well.

Camp Motto: Being kind to yourself makes you strong.

Checkout my personal progress and all the tasks on http://www.artfultourist.blogspot.com/

Follow along with the  Slipper camp tasks on the Live Safe, Live Well Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/kNACkofit?ref=br_rs

Go Raw

Here's one of my raw food smoothies made
with my new super bullet that Sir Henry
got me for Christmas--there's kale in there :)

Today’s Slipper Camp Workout--Workout # 7

 Eat one whole, raw food. We have all heard that eating less processed food is better for us. Start today and eat one thing that is not processed in any way.

Bonus: Try a raw food smoothie at the store or homemade

 

Enhancements:

·         Try one piece of fruit, four baby carrots, or a single slice of tomato.

·         Eat your one thing completely by itself—no salt, no dressing, nothing but one whole food.

·         Visualize your body saying thank you.

 

Slipper Camp: A kinder, gentler boot camp designed to assist you in living well.

Camp Motto: Being kind to yourself makes you strong.

Follow along with the  Slipper camp tasks on the Live Safe, Live Well Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/kNACkofit?ref=br_rs

Make something of it

Slipper Camp Workout #6:

Make something. The feeling of accomplishment when you make something yourself is a boost to the soul and the mind.

 Bonus: Make something that makes you laugh.

Silly Kissy Birds ACEO by Norma
Anne Chattin 2014 copyright

 

Tips and Enhancements:

·         Contrary to popular belief, you do not have to be “creative” to make something.

·         If you cook from box items, try making something from scratch.

·         If you only buy pre-made items, cook something from a box.

·         Write a handwritten thank you note or birthday wish.

·         If you have a hobby, make something with it—from knitting a scarf, to making a gift tag or card, to planting a seed or placing a carrot top in water.

·         Make a photo log of today by snapping shots all day lo

 

Obviously this is one of my favorite topics. For more tips and enhancements visit the Artful Tourist side of my website: http://www.nachattin.com/indexartonly.html

 

Slipper Camp: A kinder, gentler boot camp designed to assist you in living well.

Camp Motto: Being kind to yourself makes you strong.

Follow along with the  Slipper camp tasks on the Live Safe, Live Well Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/kNACkofit?ref=br_rs