One of the things that I love about blogging is that it gives me a chance to interact with people that I otherwise would never have met. I've been inspired by photos and words from so many different people, and Lee is one of them. I asked for camera advice one day, and Lee sent me this fantastic email that contained so much great information. From there, I checked out her blog and started reading on a daily basis, commenting when possible and just getting to know her. What draws me to Lee's blog is the way she captures her daily life with photos and words; it's the same goal I have, and she's always a source of inspiration and ideas for me. More than anything, though, I like getting to know her in this way, through our similarities and our differences.
It was such a thrill to receive the
e-mail from Audrey inviting me to participate here on Fortune favors the
AUDACIOUS as a guest blogger! I’m such a huge fan, and thrilled to be in such
tremendous guest blogger company! It’s such a thrill to have this opportunity
to share some of my interests with you.
Like everyone, I am busy. As a
result of my lifestyle, I have become a big believer in the idea that you do
not have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to blogging, scrapbooking and
creating and still end up with a fun, creative and meaningful
result.
One of my favourite short-cuts to
creativity is to participate in memes and challenges – more often than not,
they are the same thing: challenging memes.
The result of my participating in
these challenges over a period of time? They give me oodles of creative
content: photos + words which I can use to create collections. I find the
consistency; routine and similarity in form appealing. They can be done with a
partner, within a group or as a stand-alone project within a larger group. They
make awesome, simple and meaningful scrapbook pages!
* * *
I suppose the best way to explain is
to show you what I mean. To varying degrees, I participate
in:
TEAM-UP THURSDAY
Challenge: Few Words + Photos
This is a new team photography meme
my friend Shirley invited me to participate in with her. The brainchild
of Melody and Megan in which we have
been participating for a little more than a month and I’m enjoying the collaborative
effort required. We have been taking turns selecting the theme and, lucky for
me, I send my photo to Shirley and she magically creates a diptych and posts it
over on the Flickr Group: All of our submissions can be found here: Team-up Thursday. A couple of weeks ago the challenge
was “pastel” and this is the diptych result:
SOOC SATURDAY
Challenge: Few Words + Photos
This is a perfect photography meme
for me! Why? I never “fix” my photos, I have no idea how to use actions and a
histogram gives me a headache. Melody has a nice little, and growing, group of
participants who have interesting perspectives to offer. I am all about
learning visually and I really enjoy looking through photos and learning from
others. I’ve got a pretty nice little collection of SOOC photos
I’ve submitted for this meme here. The most recent:
MY BEST SHOT MONDAY
Challenge: Few Words + Photos
This challenge is hosted by the
multi-talented and energetic Tracy Clark over on her blog, Mother May I. Tracy
may be best recognized as a founding member of Shutter Sisters and a current
member of the teaching roster over at Big Picture Scrapbooking. The idea is for
you to go through your photos from the week and select your best shot and post
it on Monday. Over the months of doing this project, I’ve come to realize that
“best” is subjective and often my best shot is not my most technically accurate
shot, but the one that evokes the most emotion. My current shots can be found
on http://thelinarstudio.typepad.com/embracelife/my-best-shot-monday/
and the older ones can be found on my now defunct blog: Lemons2Lemonade
After looking at all of my shots again, I can’t even select a FAVOURITE of the
Best Shots, but, boy, I do take a lot of floral pics, but my favourite topic:
WISHCASTING WEDNESDAY
Challenge: Words
Jamie Ridler, a creative
self-development coach and fellow Canadian, asks: what would happen if every
week you made a wish? What magic might start to stir? I enjoy this meme so much
as I often get lost in the day-to-day of my life. Raising four active kids can
keep me from focusing some time on myself, so first thing Wednesday mornings, Jamie
proposes a question, if it strikes a chord, I write a post; if not, I don’t.
Jamie strikes many chords! I hope to collect all of my wishcasting and make a
quick mini-album of her questions and my answers. You can find my Wishcasting Wednesday on my
Embrace Life blog. Jamie has amassed a lovely community who, if you leave your link, will visit
you and support your wish.
12 of 12
Challenge: Words + Photos (and a
layout!)
If it’s true that my children will
remember the every day occurrences of their childhoods more than the special
occasions then they will certainly have vivid memories of the12th of
every month! Susan Keuter started this challenge a while ago and it has
recently been moved onto Facebook where there are quite a number of
participants. The idea is to go through your day, the 12th of each
month, and take 12 pictures that best represent your day. Now, inevitably I
take about 100 photos, but over time it’s become easy to narrow things down and
give a good representation of what our day and life routine is all about. Of
course, adding the journaling definitely helps! I’ve been participating in this
project the most consistently, and the longest, of all the challenges. I just
love it. And ta-da, while typing up this entry, I finally figured out how best
to put it in scrapbook form! So far, every 12th has been posted on
my blogs: new and old
but I’ve never settled on a scrapbook layout format. Since this project is for
my kids, I’d best get at it. This is my plan, what do you think:
*8 THINGS
Challenge: Words
The way Rachelle (Magpie Girl) put
it, *8 Things was a game she made up to quiet her “monkey mind”. I could relate
and I found her challenge appealing. Though, I have to admit, I’ve fallen off a
bit recently. Too many other things to do! But, I have very much enjoyed this
meme. Again, easy to transfer to layout or even simple digi-book form the
thoughts and ideas expressed. I have about 20 entries sitting in draft form
ready to be finished off and published. Like Rachelle, I’m filled with
countless half-formed ideas and creative passions; this has proven to be a
wonderful “catch all”. On her blog, my friend, Jill, participates in a
similar meme called Thursday Thirteen, I don’t because it just means I would
have to come up with five more ideas, so I’ll stick with my *8 Things!
WELLNESS WEDNESDAY
Challenge: Words + Occasional Photos
I’m sure somewhere this exists as a
challenge, but this has been my thing. On occasion, I’ve put together a post on
wellness: spiritual, health, children … if it falls into the category of my own
personal well being then I write about it. Eventually this will translate into
something. A scrapbook? A digi-book? Or *gasp* a book! All of my recent posts
can be found on Embrace Life.
PROJECT 365
Challenge: Photos
This project is being done
EVERYWHERE! It is quite an undertaking. I’m in the first half of my second year
and I’m really enjoying it - though I still occasionally forget to bring my
camera with me when I leave the house. There are countless blogs and Flickr
groups dedicated to this idea. I am in the process of moving my project onto my
Embrace Life blog.
WEEKLY GRATITUDE
Challenge: Words + Photos
Hosted by Karen Grünberg and Lori
Gentile at this is a wonderful opportunity to express your appreciation for the
little things in life. After all, it’s the little things that make everything
so lovely, right? They provide a monthly theme (so far topics covered include:
Work, Soul, Home and Nature) and they have offered a few communities in which
to participate: Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and the Willow Traders Gratitude
Forum. I started when they started, at the beginning of 2010 and, with help
from Karen (and the lovely Audrey), I managed to figure out how to use the
digital template created and freely shared by Karen. You can find my
contributions here in my Weekly Gratitude Gallery (http://thelinarstudio.typepad.com/photos/weekly_gratitude/index.html).
This manner of expressing gratitude
replaced:
TGIF
Challenge: Words
Brené Brown is such an incredibly
inspiring woman, I have learned so much from her this past 18 months or so.
I’ve participated in her read-alongs and her blog is in my reader. Her TGIF
meme, which stands for Trust, Gratitude, Inspiration Friday is set up to make
you more aware of those things in your life you are trusting, for which you are
grateful and what inspires you. I stopped participating after a time. I felt my
posts were becoming redundant and I felt self-imposed pressure to be original,
creative and heart-felt when I find it hard to express in this format. It
certainly isn’t because I’m not grateful or mindful, just that I would rather
live my gratitude than express it. My last posts were here: http://thelinarstudio.typepad.com/embracelife/tgif/
* * *
There are oodles of memes and
challenges that can be found all over the Internet. Some have McLinky
applications where you can add your link when your entry is completed – and you
can visit others participating in the same challenge. I’m terrible at adding my
link but have added many of my fellow contributors to my google reader so I
don’t miss out on theirs! Some have branched out to Facebook and Flickr. There
is so much inspiration out there that requires consistency and routine rather
than creativity and originality. This doesn’t mean I’m not original or
creative, but these memes and challenges give me a chance to be productive. In
the end, to me, it’s about collecting those consistent bits of goodness and
creating something that best represents me and still gives time for me to be
original, creative and free with my other endeavours.
* * *
I am:
mother | photographer | writer |
friend | artist | student | wife | designer | laundress | volunteer |
entrepreneur
I can be found writing, reading,
talking or taking photos:
hockey rink | grocery store |
football field | school blacktop | parking lot | rugby pitch | waiting room |
auditorium
I enjoy:
laundry | laughter | a clean house |
california rolls | white wine | hugs | scrapbooking | blogging
I avoid:
cooking | grocery shopping | talking
on the phone | drama | the dentist
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