doodling

When I was a teenager (back in the stone age!) I was a master doodler. Nothing escaped my little drawings. Most of them were unrecognizable mind you, but I loved to doodle. Recently I have taken up doodling again, only much more intentionally this time. I find that it really enhances my creative process. I purchased these 2 books to help me start this little journey...

I have this bin full of pens, markers, pencils, rulers, etc.....

 I am a huge fan of Prismacolor pencils. Several years ago my hubby gifted me this enormous tin of their colored pencils which I absolutely love.

 Since my word of the year is strength, I recently started doodling some Bible verses that use my word. This one from Proverbs is my current favorite verse....

 You might notice, I love a good curlicue! Lots of those in my doodling, along with checkerboards and other squiggles....

 And I do love color! This one I just did has lots of color. Oh, and those yellow dots across the center? That's a strip of washi tape I found on clearance at Target. Gotta love a good deal!

I must say I am really enjoying this re-found hobby of mine. Sometimes I have to force myself to put the markers away and do something constructive (like housework!). Are you a doodler too?

my 2013 word of the year

I had a hard time choosing my word for the year this year. Up until two days ago, I thought I would use the word "dream". But it didn't feel quite right. And then I thought, maybe I should go with something totally random. Like, oh, say, Aardvark. That could be interesting, right? No? Probably not.

And then I woke up in the middle of the night & clearly heard God give me my word for the year. Strength. As in, "enough dreaming girlfriend! be strong and get on with it". Hmmm.... ok!

And I thought, well that goes with my favorite Bible verse, Philippians 4:13. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. A great verse, right? And then I came across this verse & I knew God was giving it to me too....

I really like that image.... clothed with strength and dignity! And so that's my challenge for this year. To be clothed with strength and dignity. If there's one thing I've learned in my last two years of choosing words, it's that I can choose them for whatever reason I want, but God always has something else up His sleeve. There's always some surprise reason why the word has been chosen. So I'm trying to be open minded and prepared for whatever He has planned for me this year.

I'm ready 2013! Bring it on!