Saturday, December 5, 2015

Journal 52, Week 49: The Gift of Self Care


Chelle's 49th prompt for Journal 52 is the gift of self care.  She offered these prompts:

  • Eat healthy delicious foods you enjoy.
  • Make light exercise a part of your daily routine, such as walking or cycling.
  • Spend time with positive people who bring out the best in you and make you feel good.
  • Listen to mood-boosting music.
  • Make your own “sacred spot” for relaxing or practicing something you enjoy.
  • Relax with a warm cup of tea.
  • Keep flowers, plants, or tend to a garden.
  • Take breaks as needed.
  • Use aromatherapy – choose soothing scents and smells to relax you.
  • Write down/Sketch any thoughts or emotions in your journal.
  • Spend time with animals or pets.
  • Take a long bath or shower.
I decided to give myself many gifts that would go under and on my Christmas tree.  Each gift was wrapped with a bow, although they are hard to see since there are so many gifts I've given myself this year.

It stands to reason, I would give myself lots of fruits and veggies, since I'm a vegetarian.

I'll also give myself a deep tissue massage, which I'm sure my shoulder will appreciate.  And I'll have lots of dreams of what I'll accomplish in 2016.  Please don't laugh at my bows.  I don't make them any better in real life, either!

The love of my life!  I can't forget my adorable Bleubeard, although I'm getting pretty cozy with Squiggles, too.

I always appreciate the gift of music, so why not give it to myself.  Gosh, it looks like that candy bar wrapper has chocolate on the outside, but it's just the way it scanned.  I actually created it before anything else, thinking it would be a humorous gift as part of a collage for Art Journal Journey hosted this month by Valerie.  Added to the candy wrapper is the safety seal from my Asian hot sauce.  Everything is eligible for collage fodder at my house.

This isn't so much a gift as it is a requirement, although the cappuccino and Biscotti are a rarer treat.  Actually, that looks more like a latte, but as long as it has caffeine, I'll never complain.

I'm also giving myself a book to read by the pool, which sounds really good now that winter has reared its ugly head.  The trunk of the tree shows the week number, which I didn't forget this week.    Above the trunk is a lovely decorated dish of fruit and veggie wrap.  Similar to real estate location, appearance in food is everything, too.  So I'm giving myself the gift of great presentation.   Finally, I'm giving myself permission to make messes with paint.

Now that you've seen all my self care gifts, I'll explain that the journal entry was created using a used file folder as the substrate, over which I painted lavender acrylic paint.  When it was dry, I added my Christmas tree, then various magazine images, a candy wrapper, and safety seal.  They were outlined in silver ink or green ink.  I used a black pen to make the tree trunk.

Thanks for looking and even though this was intended for this week's Journal 52 entry, I'm also entering it in Art Journal Journey's December collage challenge.  As always, I appreciate your continued support of my art.


14 thoughtful remarks:

Valerie-Jael said...

Love all the gifts you are giving yourself, you deserve them. It's good to have things we enjoy and which do us good. I have great problems with bows, too, my fingers don't cooperate these days. Thanks for joining us at Art Journal Journey with your wonderful tree full of gifts collage. Hugs, Valerie

froebelsternchen said...

Love the idea to this page and I love how you made it! I recognized that I maybe are such a lucky girl because I gift so much from this things everyday to myself..lol...not only to special occasions but simply as often as possible. And friends like you are also a gift! Thank you for joining us again at Art Journal Journey Elizabeth! Happy Saturday!
oxo
Susi

Jeannette said...

love your collage page,the kitty is so cute and i love coffee too,yum.
happy weekend.

hugs jenny

Divers and Sundry said...

What a beautiful idea!

Valerie-Jael said...

Hi Elizabeth, forgot to say that the mailman should have something for you soon, hope it arrives next week. Hugs, Valerie

Anonymous said...

I like your collage tree of self care. I am so happy to have a Christmas Cactus blooming in it's hot pink glory this year. Such a boost. Nice list to work from. xox

Dianne said...

Oh E, I love this! what fun...we all need to take time for ourselves. but I am having trouble visualizing you giving yourself that deep tissue massage! lol...stay warm and cozy dear friend!

pearshapedcrafting said...

This is a brilliant page! A great idea - you deserve all of those gifts and more! Even if I try cheats for making bows they never look like I see them elsewhere! It's howling a gale here - really noisy - glad to be back from our food shop! Hugs, Chrisx

Meggymay said...

A wonderful selection of gifts, love how they are stacked up the tree background. There is always a time to pamper yourself and enjoy the things you like to do.
Yvonne xx

Rita said...

Fantastic assortment of gifts to give to yourself!! :)

AiyanaKalyna said...

I do all these prompts too but I need to drink more hot tea. Drinking tea is one of my favorite things in the world. I love your journal pages. They are so pretty. I did laugh at the "chocolate smear". It's like your scanner stole the chocolate and had a yummy treat.

Halle said...

Those are all great gifts! Especially the massage...think you could train the four legged boys to walk on your back??

My name is Erika. said...

Interesting topic and I think you found some great pictures. This would be perfect after the holidays when everyone gets on the new year new you craze, so maybe you could repost it next second on the second. Hope you have a good new week.

Becky said...

Love your page the pics are lovely and a gorgeous cat x