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I trust my own wise self … and other voices

by | Aug 1, 2022 | Ideas

I trust my own wise self is the calendar page for August … and here, for your desktop is one you can use.

And when I say I trust my own wise self and other voices, here’s what I mean:

Currently I am in a time when so much good stuff is coming right to me. Wisdom, from within and serendipidous things from all around me. The messages I am getting are so clear and clean and supportive. They are affirming everything that I have come to understand about this time in life and a great deal of the moving parts.

For the first time in quite awhile, I am feeling much calmer and clearer on how to move forward. I recently uncovered a major reason for the lack of calm, and it is now been expunged from my life. Hey, there’s a word I have never used before, expunged. Great word!

A new world is opening up for me, but it has not come without a lot of restlessness, worry and a good dose of fear. Of course, my natural defense against those gremlins it to hold faith, trust and gratitude firmly in front of me. I think now I really need to add a double dose of patience to the mix, in order to get the balance of needed elements.

Some of the great celebratory days on the calendar this month: International Beer Day (5th) , International Cat Day (8th), World Lion Day and World Calligraphy Day (10th), World Elephant Day (12th), International Left Handed Day (13th), World Honey Bee Day (20th), and International Bacon Day (27th). I trust everyone will find something fun to celebrate!

I hope this month brings you a new level of trust in yourself!

This is how they turned out … 

They both feel as though they have a whole new life ahead of them as treasure boxes … a sweet feeling indeed!

Yes, compendium has made it to proof stage!

After too long a break in the action, compendium 10 is now just about completed. One more proof and it will go to print. 

As I was beginning this one, I sat with the previous nine issues and looked at them closely. What worked, what didn’t work as well, what were the things that wanted to come forward. Compendium 10 is also where I give more space to my partner Mary Ann Moore, since without her, I would never get an issue out the door. She supports my idea, proofs the pages and makes sure I am fed and watered. 

I look forward to see where this project is going to lead me, because for sure, it isn’t done with me yet!

Sarah J Clark

photo by Wendy Morisseau

“So, my recipe for thriving is very simple: find ways to open your imagination and use it …” Jaime Meyer

This came from a much longer article on social media and the pitfalls within it. A very timely thing for me to read, as I navigate my way around it and find new ways to be without it.

May you thrive in all that you do … and celebrate at least one of the less traditional days of the month, as mentioned above.

All the best,

~sarah

My calendar says to celebrate this month! I’m listening.

by | Jul 7, 2022 | Ideas

This is the desktop wallpaper version of my calendar page for July. I hope you will enjoy it on your screen. 

For me, finding things to celebrate isn’t that big a deal … I truly do celebrate it all. Every single day. The July page of my printed calendar is a good reminder to me to up my game a bit I think. 

July started with a very big and important birthday in our household. We decided it was time to dive in and have a big celebration! Of course, this was a major leap after the last two and a half years … a big gathering, but it was so worth it. 

Friends came and filled our home with love, which remains with us now. We noted this morning that this really feels like our home in a even bigger way, since everyone was here. 

What an incredilbe blessing to celebrate every day.

For those of you who would like a little reminder to celebrate this month, you can upload this image and use it as your desktop wallpaper if you like. My gift of celebration to YOU!

 

Something NEW for the Bento Box Letters …

The other day, when I was preparing some Bento Box letters to write and send … it occured to me that other people might appreciate a little embellishment on them, instead of being plain.

I like this idea … sort of a starter phase for people who might not quite feel up to starting from scratch, but would like to have a bit of room to explore.

Here are the two that I started, which will actually be used by me, but I think I will do some packs to sell as well.

Stay Tuneed at: compendiumshop.ca

Two lovely finds … on their way to being reimagined. 

I was out looking for something completely different, when I came across these … two really nice, but banged up boxes. 

The inside of the silverware one needed a complete gut-job …. including the bottom. I tore it apart and created a new bottom piece, much more solid!

The other is a former humidor, for cigars. That front open circle used to house the device that keeps the humidity balanced. It has disappeared. I have covered it in a lovely piece of epony that was in the studio. 

Otherwise, the inside of the humidor is perfect and of course comes with that rich, deep aroma that you either love or hate. I quite enjoy it. Reminds me of my father, who didn’t smoke cigars, but did smoke a pipe sometimes.

This morning, I base coated these new beauties, and now they wait to dry and the next layers to come their way. 

Coming up next month …

My first show in I don’t know how many years. It’s in the garden of my friend Dorcas Larson.

Sarah J Clark

photo by Wendy Morisseau

For those of you who have followed compendium, my periodical …

I am glad that I knew when I started compendium in 2018, that it would be a periodical … because any sort of real schedule has been so hard for me to maintian.

Having said that, compendium 10 is officially in the works and I am enjoying the process. This issue will also have my partner in life, and all things creative, Mary Ann on four pages instead of one. It felt like the right time to give her a bit more exposure and periodical real estate, so to speak.

There are still many pages to fill, and I am working from a list of ideas …. all tied together with the theme of a slow pace and the place we live.

Stay tuned.

Wishing you a delicious month of celebrating all the wonders that are around you!

~sarah

Finally accepting what really works for me

by | Jun 18, 2022 | Ideas

I have a conundrum around social media … 

Although I clearly see how it works for millions of people who run businesses, I have FINALLY come to the conclusion that it does not work for me.

Making random connections to people all over the place, who may or may not share my deeper interests, doesn’t really interest me. Clearly, I am not a person who lives by the numbers. (Or too many other standard rules either!)

I thought I could find a way that didn’t feel weird, a way to put things into the world, and still maintain a connection to the process, but I can’t seem to find that aspect of social media. I cannot tell you how many times I have hooked myself up to Instagram, only to find out that the sense of disconnect was daunting. Okay, that didn’t work. Big time.

So, I sat down with myself, and my board of directors (the other thoughts in my head), and this is what I know to be true: I am drawn to doing this in small ways, with great intention and connection. It’s why I enjoy sitting and folding the Bento Box Letters when I get an order. I am making it for that person. I want to feel that all the moments I spend have a significance well beyond the action itself. I want someone who receives a letter or package from me to feel how much joy it brings me to put it together.

Social media can’t do that, at least not for me. I actually find email more endearing than social media, because it takes a greater amount of time and thought to write a personal email. For me, social media lacks a necessary depth, in many cases.

I know exactly when something is “canned”, or created and then scheduled to go out … the personal presence is missing. I feel it. And that is not to say that anything is wrong with it, it’s just not the way I feel best doing things.

Yes, I realize why I am so attracted to stories of people who have slowed down and are now creating with a different sort of focus and care. They aren’t concerned with the numbers or in mass producing things, or having their works everywhere. I get it. There is a deep satisfaction in being present to all the aspects of creating, from the simple act of base coating something, to the final wrapping and sending something off in the mail.

Just like when I write this blog, or produce compendium (more on that in a minute) … I am actually writing to people I know who read it, and that makes all the difference in the world.

So, as I surrender my internal struggle with the idea of fitting into the world of social media, I have freed myself to create and share an even more present me. One easy step at a time.

Flow, flow, flow …

Even though I am happy to use these funky/refined pen/pencil caddies in my studio, since they have proven quite handy actually,  I know that they are intended to be in the world.

So, I have chosen to drastically reduce the price, in order that they find their forever homes.

See them here: compendiumshop.ca

New pieces … Joy and Delight

I finally made the trip up island this week, to deliver these two tables, and a few other things, to the Salish Sea Market … my other family!

They join in the wonderful variety of curated work by 195+ artists, who all live with insight of the Salish Sea. 

If you have the chance to visit the market in person, you will not be disappointed … it is nothing short of fabulous. 

If you are limited to visiting the market online, then grab a coffee/tea or wine, and sit and bask in the amazing talents, passions, and creativity that is represented there. You will be enthralled!

~s

I was introduced to FOLKLIFE magazine when it first came out, but it didn’t really capture my imagination until now. I wasn’t there yet. This is a beautifully designed and produced magazine about the lives and work of people who live on the Gulf Islands. For those of you who don’t live on the west coast of Canada, the Gulf Islands sit between the mainland and Vancouver Island, and there are lots of them!

Folklife is a slow, deliberate and calming read. The images capture a feeling that is the Gulf Islands. The people who are featured are the heart of what makes life unqiue. It is inspiring and motivating, and gives me a sense of connection to this place. Even though I don’t live on a Gulf Island now, I have in the past and know that life isn’t like other places … in so many lovely ways!

If you live on Vancouver Island, good news … you can check out Folklife from the library, and get a taste of it yourself.

Folklifemag.ca

Me and Squeak

Alas, our Squeak has not returned to our home, but I think about him every single day. We miss our sweet boy.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about compendium, my periodical. 

The last issue of compendium came out around Christmas 2021, number 9. I haven’t felt desire to write, or the energy to create number 10 until recently. So, I have started to think about it again.

I wonder whether people are still interested in it. I wonder what it wants to become, I know there is a shift to happen. So, I putter with ideas and directions and feel I am starting to take it more seriously. 

You see, it is a labour of love really. It takes a lot of time and energy, and its not like I sell enough to really make it financially viable, yet. But in my head, it could be.

And so, I continue to ponder the idea of what will become of this periodical of mine, and how it may shift and change to be of service to its readers.

Hmmmm.

Wishing you a good stretch of joyous pondering.

~sarah

Understanding the importance of connection

by | May 29, 2022 | Ideas

Although I tend to be a rather solitary person, connection is really vital for me. 

It’s why letters have always been a fabulous outlet for me. Connect on a deep level, but still remain solitary. I’ve been writing letters since I was an early teen. It started with writing to my sister Anne. Every week, we had letters travelling to one another across the country. She lived in British Columbia, I lived in Ontario at the time. Talking on the phone wasn’t an option, the cost of long distance was completely outrageous. So we wrote. Sometimes long letters, sometimes short letters. The importance of it was that we maintained a strong connection to each others day-t0-day lives. 

In the last few years, I have developed an amazing postal correspondence with my friend Simone, who actually doesn’t live that far away, but we don’t get to see each other much. The connection we share is palpable. We love pens, pencils, papers, folding things in unusual ways, Simone being particularly skilled at testing the limits of the postal system! We share not only what’s going on for us, but our creativity in the mix. It is nothing short of fabulous. 

In a world busy with short bursts of quick info, letter writing offers to the chance to slow down, take time and really BE with the person … and then they are able to BE with you, when they make the time to sit with your letter and spend quality time with your words. 

I am hooked on this letter format … as you might be able to tell!

I’ve been playing with folds and ways of creating something unqiue to write in/on, and mail … the BENTO BOX LETTER has been the ticket. Now I have decided to see how many variations I might be able to create. These two are pretty fun. A five piece set in more grounded and earthy colours, and a set that is bright on the inside and out (two different colours, pretty wild!)

BENTO BOX BRIGHTS and BENTO BOX EARTH TONES are limited editions … because at any given time, I have no idea whether I will ever be able to get these papers again. 

See them here: 

Finding ways to expand my world …

Over the past few months, when I have been feeling the need to explore something other that the things I know, I have been taking online workshops.

The first was called Sketchbook Revival, and it was two weeks of different people showing what they do in their sketchbooks. It was inspiring.

The second was an off-shoot of that, one of the artists, Terry Runyan who does these great watercolour blog creatures. I have since bought her new book, Painitng Happiness Creativity with Watercolors, (Leaping Hare Press ©2022)

The images above are my first tries at this endeavour!

The third was a DIY Marketing course that reminded me, in no uncertain terms, that my style of marketing is outside of social media. While those around me are talking about building numbers and such, I am only wanting to connect with individuals and make meaning. So far, I am not feeling like the two go together … at least not for me.

So, I am going to forge my own way of getting out there in the world, that feels just right for me. I will say, it will be rather “old school” … but in times like these, that will be unqiue!

Desktop image for JUNE.

Yes, it’s time to change your desktop again … something new and fresh to start the month.

Just right-click the image and you should be able to save it to your computer and make it your desktop image for the month. If you have any problems, please let me know!

June offers us some fabulous days of celebration: 4th National Cheese Day (US), 12th International Falafal Day, 14th International Bath Day, 18th World Sustainable Gastronomy Day, 21st Indigenous Peoples Day and on the 22nd, World Rainforest Day. 

As always, every day offers something to celebrate, so I hope you will. 

New to the compendiumshop … more ways to send joy through the mail. ORIGINAL Mandalas on black card stock (there are 8 new ones as of this moment, with more coming!)

Me and Squeak

photo by Wendy Morisseau

Not the bear at the door …. but similar!

Life in the country is ever-changing and unfolding … 

In the past couple of weeks, we have experienced living outside the city in new ways. We had a power outage because of high winds, and in the city, that doesn’t effect EVERYTHING, but in the country it does. No power means no water. No flush toilets. Nothing. Our landlords were kind enough to bring us a big bucket of water so that we could flush the toilets, and offered us bottled water to drink. It was the wake up call we needed to be more prepared for these things. We now have stocked up on water to drink, and we have a NEW, large garbage pail in which to collect water from our showers, to use in emergency or to water the plants in the hot season. 

The other BIG, new-to-the-country event was a BEAR. Yes, a real, live, big bear at our back door, last Friday night. Then yesterday it was back, strolling through the yard. Yup, this ain’t the city anymore! 

Add to this, one of the neighbours cats has decided to become the laziest of hunters … it found the hutch of the resident rabbits, and promptly snatched one as it came out … only to return the next day and wait at the opening for another one. No, that’s not going to work for me. So now I watch out for it, and run outside and scare it off immediately. 

Yes, living in the country is a new level of high maintenance!

Wishing you a life full of living!

~sarah

One third through a year of constant change …

by | May 1, 2022 | Ideas

I don’t remember a year with as many BIG changes as this one …

We are all feeling the shifts and changes in the world, as well as how they land in our personal sphere, but I don’t remember them all clumping together like this before. Some of the changes seem small in some respects, like having to find a new hairdresser. But, as it turns out, it’s a big thing. Linda has been cutting my hair for the past 17 years. I have seen her approximately every five weeks over that time, so roughly 176 times, for a half an hour or so. That’s about 88 hours we have spent together. There are many of my friends and family that I have not spent as much time with in those years. Many. 

Over the years Linda and I have talked about a lot of things, some silly and some serious. It’s been a wonderful connection, a sort of touchstone of my world. That will be no longer. We will lose touch. She is moving to Maidstone, Saskatchewan, where she bought the local hair salon, and will be in the hub of her family once again, and I am thrilled to bits for her. 

I will cherish this connection as something precious, because it is. It isn’t like any other friendship I have, in fact, it is completely different. 

Why even share this? Because I didn’t want this important relationship to end without recognition of its significance in my life. It was more than just a haircut every five weeks, it was unique connection and sharing. It was special. 

So, if you ever find yourself travelling through Maidstone, Sask, drop in to Making Waves, and tell Linda that Sarah says Hi!

The start of something wonderful …

These are my two latest acquisitions, bought together. Twins in different shapes!

They have now moved beyond their original look, seen here. They have their base coast of satin black, and are looking quite smart already!

It’s been lovely to work on these two, to sink into that place where I feel all that has gone into making them. They have some pretty nice details on them. 

At this moment, I have NO IDEA what the tops might become …. but, as always, I will listen carefully at each step and proceed gently until all is revealed. 

Stay tuned!

You can’t really go wrong reading Pema Chödrön

 I guess I have probably read all of Pema Chödrön’s books, and all have come at exactly the right time and have been perfect.

Her latest, Welcoming the Unwelcome, Wholehearted Living in a Brokenhearted World, (Shambhala ©2020) seems to be the perfect read for THIS moment. It is helping me to get through these turbulent times, reminds me of things I know, but have somehow forgotten to bring forward. Her words are like a good friend, helping you navigate tricky waters. 

From the jacket cover: 
“… Pema Chrödrön offers fresh wisdom, heartfelt refections, and the signature humor and insight that have made hera beloved guide during turbulent times. In an increasingly polarizedworld, Pema offers us tools to find common ground, even when we disagree, so we can buld a strong and broader seanse of community”.

Yes, it is all of this and more!

Desktop image for MAY.

Yes, it’s time to change your desktop again … something new and fresh to start the month.

This image is from my 2022 calendar … one full of unusual days of celebration. These include some rather interesting ones this month … May 6th, World Naked Day, followed immediately on May 7th by World Laughter Day. Hmmmm, one has to wonder about the timing of these two things.

And there are many more, but I do believe my favourite for this month is: May 31st, National Speak in Full Sentences Day. Thank you Simone for alerting me to this important occasion!

If you want to learn the basics about something quickly, check out the kids section in the library! That’s where this little volume came from. Exploring the World of Hummingbirds, by Tracey C. Read, (Firefly Books ©2017). It’s great. I learned so much in 20 minutes of reading it … and now my observations of our herd of hummers is richer with this knowledge. 

Me and Squeak

photo by Wendy Morisseau

I am happy to say, there are many new things in the works over here!

I have some new products to be launched soon and an ever-expanding pool of ideas that are brewing, which feels so wonderful. Each day seems to offer me more insight into where my energies are most needed and welcomed. Each step is inspiring the next.

Wishing you a week filled with brilliant and inspired next steps.

~sarah