Sparks Joy ~ Bento

I love Bento box lunches! The artistry, the tiny cute stuff and the mostly yummy food. I aspire to be a person who has the tools, time, and skills to do this. It's not going to happen during the lunch making season of my life- but dreaming and savouring brings me joy!

Calvin and Hobbes bring me joy too!

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365 2016 Week 3

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Flora on Friday

 

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♥ Joy

Tama Month 55

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365 2016 Week 2

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Wordless Wednesday

 

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Will Month 97

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Sparks Joy ~ Stationery

 

I'm a girl that can't pass up pretty paper. A brand new notebook with a funky cover, a cool card or post card, a letter writing set, and of course 12 x 12 for scrapbooking. I was one of those kids that had 50+ penpals, a novelty eraser collection, a stamp collection and an insane amount of cool pens and stickers. I no longer have the erasers or stamps- penpals are down to one. The pen collection has grown and expanded and I have and a lot of paper... a lot of paper. Far too many notebooks to ever fill- though I still look at more. I love Typo and am downright dangerous in Kikki K. I love Stationery, love it. Fresh paper brings joy in my world. A set of pens in a rainbow of colours make my heart sing and washi tape, don't get me started on the washi tape!

The best notebooks come from Compendium Publishing Live Inspired!

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Flora on Friday

 

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♥ Joy

Wordless Wednesday

 

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Sparks Joy ~ Docs

I'm not a footwear fanatic- you'll never find me lusting after Louboutins (I couldn't even spell them!) or any of their ilk. Shoes for me have pretty much been about comfort and function. I only generally wear one or two pairs a season- right now it's a $30 pair of sandals and in the winter I'll be happy to put back on my red Mary Janes to keep my toes dry. 

But I do love Doc Martens. Not the plain old boring ones, but the cool groovy interesting ones. Of the 5 pairs I've owned the blue paisley were my favourite. I did a lot of things in those boots- lots of joyful memories. I'm partial to a nice floral doc, and the Hello Kitty Docs would be fun. But if I was choosing a pair right now the ones I'd choose are those ones above! The ultimate joy would be getting that pattern on a Mary Jane!

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Flora on Friday

 

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♥ Joy

Wordless Wednesday

 

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365 2016 Week 1

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Sparks Joy ~ Creativity

Aren't these just incredible?!

There are so many talented people in the world it really blows my mind. The  variety of amazing creativeness in the world is almost infinite. I love that you can see it in books and magazines, in art galleries, on buildings, television and of course the internet- hello Pinterest! I'll get to some more creative stuff later in these posts, including how much joy my own creativity brings me but for now I just want to reflect on just how much joy one can get from immersing yourself in the creativity of others. I've curated a whole lifetime full on my pinterest boards from words, through photos, fibres, food, and of course paper. It makes me happy just to look at my landing page but diving into those boards is a joy.
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365 2015 Week 52

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♥ Joy

Wordless Wednesday

 

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Sparks Joy ~ Collections

I am a collector- I have multiple collections and they bring me much joy and for many reasons. I have a collection of: G's, vases, patterned paper, memories, Christmas decorations, books, Starbucks things, Lego Minifigures, pretty images and words, blog posts, and photographs among other things.

Some of my collections are ongoing and some are finished. Some are small and some are quite large.

While some weigh heavily on me from a volume or investment perspective I try not to care because they really do bring me much joy. At any time I can view many of my collections around my home, while others come out for special occasions- like the Christmas Decorations.

I have had collections for as long as I can remember. Starting with the bird cards from the Greggs jelly, and plastic toys from Nana's cornflakes, and flowers picked from the garden and displayed in multiple vessels in my bedroom. At one time I collected stamps and another I collected Erasers and stickers like many children do.

I have moved on from some collections like my antique Tobacco tin collection and my Smurfs, I kept a few favourites of both. I gave away my entire collection of Next Magazines (from the very first issue) to make space for a new baby.

I rue the day I couldn't justify the cost an addition to my vase collection- but the memory of the day spent adventuring with a good friend give a joyful perspective to the memory. Sometimes the hunt adds to the joy of a good collection.

I enjoy looking at the collections of others online and in real life. One of the best parts of Pinterest is having a great collection (boards) of collections that you could never hope to have in your home all in one place. A collection of inspiration as well.

I'm not sure I'd like to start any more collections- I get great joy from what I have- but it's enough.

Sparks Joy is a weekly post where I highlight some of the things that spark Joy for me.
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One Little Word 2016

Each year I choose a word to colour my year- to help me shine a perspective on the year ahead that will help me grow and change, help me become more me. Past words include...

2008: Focus

2009: Healthy

2010: Brilliant

2011: Better + Habit

2012: Simple

2013: Story

2014: Be (Present)

2015: Together + Nourish

 

 Some years are definitely better than others (I loved Story and Simple) and while I felt pushed to choose to Together for 2015 a huge part of me resisted in return because I really wanted to be alone a lot of the year. And to be honest I completely forgot that I had declared Nuture as a co-word... go me, in one ear and out the other.   

This year I did one of those silly facebook app things... you know "choose out of these random options and we'll tell you your personality" type questionnaire things. The one I did told you your word for 2016. The one I got was way to pie in the sky for me... totally absurd. Then I saw the word in other places- it kept popping up all over, and not just because it was Christmas either. I started to give it some consideration. What would it mean to view 2016 through the lens of this word? How would I incorporate it into my life? How would it benefit or improve me? How would it be for my family if this is my word? What do I want to get out of 2016? Could I really do it? Could I really use it? I collected some images and quotes and got more and more comfortable with the word. I reviewed some alternatives... nothing stuck, not like this word. Nothing jelled like this word. It's a big word I'm still not entirely comfortable with it. In fact in the sugar filled emotional haze that is post Christmas and end of year reflection I'm not even sure I can begin to do justice to this word... I'm downright fearful that it will be another year of word neglect and failure to change on all fronts.

But I can't ignore the signs and I've already done a lot of work to set up the word, I've even ordered the jewellery for goodness sake- so it only remains to dive in and do my best to honour my word and pull it (possibly kicking and screaming) into as many aspects of my life as I can. So without further ado I introduce my One Little Word for 2016......

 Artist: Yulia Brodskaya

"Joy is what happens when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things are. Joy is not necessarily what happens when things unfold according to our plans." -- Marianne Williamson

Here's the jewellery I chose to remind me every day....

It's a ring... I hope it's comfortable. I also hope I'll be able to 'squeeze' it a bit smaller too because I really hope that I'll be able to choose the foods that bring my body joy this year and finally lose a bit of weight.

I have taken to choosing a symbol in the past few years for my word as well, last year was a triangle, a heart for Be, and a camera for Story. This year it's a bird, specifically a Blue Fairy Wren- a WA local that Will and I have had the pleasure of spotting more than once in 2015... even in our own garden in the last few months of the year. I love them and they and their QLD cousins the Splendid Fairy Wrens bring me a lot of joy.

P.S I also brought this ring too, couldn't resist and well, I wouldn't want to change too much...

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Flora on Friday

 

To new beginnings!

Wishing you the best in 2016,

With love. xoxo

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