Vision Board & Encouragement

  Have you ever created a 
VISION BOARD?  
We all need a bit of encouragement 
and YOU can provide it for yourself!

A Vision Board is sort of a visual TO-Do list.
Set Goals,  create reminders of your awesomeness, plan where you want to go (and get there)  with realistic or even over the top ideas!  Do you have a skirt you want to get back into?   Add photos of skirts.   Is the Beach calling?   Add pictures of the sea.

This board was created by/for Weight Watchers.

This board was created by Rose Caiola - Rewire Me


Your Board can be BRIEF or filled with Ideas.

This board was one of mine from a few years ago.

I wanted to compile some positive thoughts you can incorporate into your Vision Board.  You do not need to use the exact thought, but they can provide a good starting place to expand on your personal circumstance.  Here are a few;

With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.
Eleanor Roosevelt

It always seems impossible until it's done. 
Nelson Mandela


It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. 
Confucius

The secret of getting ahead is getting started. 
Mark Twain

Your talent is God's gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God. 
Leo Buscaglia

Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other. 
Walter Elliot


Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn. 
Harriet Beecher Stowe

Empty pockets never held anyone back. Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that.   
Norman Vincent Peale 

A problem is a chance for you to do your best. 
Duke Ellington

Life is more meaningful when you are always looking to grow and working toward a goal. 
Les Brown 

Share your positive or inspiring thoughts on our FORUM page -
https://www.facebook.com/groups/DIYStudio/

FREEBIES for VALENTINES

GRAB THESE FUN PRINTABLES FOR YOUR VALENTINES!

CUT THEM OUT, PUNCH A HOLE, ADD SOME RIBBON OR TWINE AND GIVE WITH CARDS, PIECES OF CANDY OR HANG AROUND THE HOUSE OR OFFICE

Simply right click with your mouse and then "save to" your desktop.

It's the YEAR OF THE PIG

Pigs have a beautiful personality and are blessed with good fortune in life.

Kicking off the main festivities is the Little Year on January 28th, with the Spring Festival officially beginning February 5th (February 4th is New Year's Eve) and ending with the Lantern Festival on February 19th. 

Little Year

Preparations for the new year begin on 

January 28th, 2019, and last until 

New Years Eve.

• Activities & traditions
  This is another day of memorial and prayer ceremonies. Main activities include house cleaning to sweep away bad luck (扫年—sǎo nián) and pray to the stove god (祭灶—jì zào).
• Food
  Sugar melons (糖瓜—táng guā), also known as stove candy (灶糖—Zào táng), are made of malt and can only be found on this day. Other food include baked wheat cakes (火烧 – huǒ shāo) and tofu soup (豆腐汤—dòufu tang).

Some symbolic vegetables to consider are:

• Seaweed: symbolize wealth and fortune
• Lotus seeds: a blessing for many children and a healthy family
• Bamboo shoots: represent longevity, as well as going onward and up
• Muskmelon and grapefruit: symbolize family and hope. In addition, grapefruit symbolizes wealth and prosperity
• Osmanthus flower petals: in Chinese, osmanthus (桂—guì) is a homophone 贵, which means noble and precious
• Leek/chives: leek (韭—jiǔ) sounds similar to 久, meaning long and everlasting
• Poria mushrooms: another play on words, this mushroom (茯苓—fú líng)sounds similar to 福禄 (fú lù), or blessings and fortune

We have red envelopes 

good to ward off Evil

Fabulous Text pages, and Joss Papers 

Asian, Chinese, Japanese are included

Spring Festival

Chinese New Year officially begins 

on February 5th, 2019, 

and ends on February 19th.

A feast of everyone’s favorites and specialties:

Eggs: big and healthy family

Lobster: endless money rolling in

Shrimp: fortune and wealth

Roasted pig: peace

Duck: loyalty

Peaches: longevity

Tofu: happiness and fortune for the entire family

Fish: surplus and wealth  

                

• Activities & traditions 
  The reunion dinner, the most important meal of the year, takes place on this day. After dinner, the children will receive red envelopes. The family will then stay up late and wait for the New Year (守岁—shǒu suì).

Lantern Festival

Preparations begin the 16th, 

and the Lantern Festival is held 

on February 19th.

• Activities & traditions    

Firecrackers start off a day of greetings and blessings between neighbors. 

There are no specific activities other than celebrating the New Year. The ancient Chinese will record and analyze the weather, stars and moon to predict the fortunes of the year. The practice is known as zhàn suì.

• Food
  In addition to food from last night, people can also celebrate with Tu Su wine (屠苏酒—tú sū jiǔ).

• Superstitions & beliefs
  It is forbidden to sweep or clean on this day, else good fortune will be swept away.

Enjoy the New Year, have some noodles and share greetings!

Take a Break

Hi Again and Happy Friday!

We here at DIY Design Studio are very excited for our Valentine's Day Card Exchange!  And, because of just finishing my cards for that very thing, I thought I would give myself a little bit of an "art break" and just doodle a bit.  I do love spending time with you though so I took some pics and thought I would bring you along with me.   

I'm sure you have heard of Zentangle.  If not, it is an art form that a couple, Rick and Maria, fell upon back around 2003.  It was a happy accident one day that happened to some of her hand lettered art.  They found that they loved the result of what happened.  They knew they could teach it to others who wanted to create, but doubted their own art abilties.  I, like most that try it find it soothing.  So, I have spent a little time each night over the last couple days and just relaxed with my journal and favorite pen, no rules, no design, just letting my mind doodle and take a break.  
I have a beautiful journal that I found at Pike Place Market years ago.   I love this little journal with its handmade papers and this is where I do most of my sketches, thoughts on my future projects, doodles and Zentangles.  

If you want to give it a try, but are a little intimidated, you can always pick up one of these fun options where a lot of the work is done for you and you can really get to relaxing.  Add some watercolor pencils and you are ready! 

Here is that beautiful journal.  It is approximately 6x6 and covered in hand dyed rice paper. 

Now, let's start a tangle.  You can see below that I create points on my page.  They can be anywhere you want.  I generally create the four quadrants like you see below to start. 

Next,  I break those quadrants up sometimes by a lot and sometimes not as much.  This one below is a more detailed version.  The beginning stages are the "no brainer" stages.  I just draw lines and shapes breaking up the square with not much thought as to the final outcome.  And, then I just doodle.  The only rule that I sometimes follow is to repeat a pattern, whether it is circles, dots or lines, etc. 

And, here is that same page with three of the four quadrants done and one with a couple swatches filled in. 

 

You do not need to be an artist to try this and be successful at it.  It may not be for everyone, but I do think everyone should give it a try.  You just need paper and a pen.  I am quite picky about my paper and pen now, but when I started I grabbed what was close and just tangled and found my moment or two of Zen.  I hope you give it a try the next time you feel the need to take a break and a breath.  Give yourself that little gift and create something beautiful in the process. 

Find your art inspiration needs at DIY Design Studio.  

Thanks for joining me!

Steph S. 

The Valentine Card Exchange is closing at Midnight.

Did you sign up?   

You can send/receiver either 5 or 10 cards, you choose!   Handmade, mail in the USA only by February 9, 2019.  

Sparkle, shine, lace, love, buttons, photos, mixed media, stamped images, die cuts, you pick your style and then send it off with a kiss!







 Colorized  by YOU.







When you place an order with IYDesignStudio.com  we will include a LOVE PACK filled with scrumptious bits, baubles, and fun.   No coupon needed but hurry it won't last long!  Place an order before February 1, 2019, to ensure you get yours.

Loves Grows When Shared

Do you have a pet?  

How about a Grandchild?

When you show love so do they.

If we all share love, it would be a kinder world.  Share your love of flowers or people or places.

Here is a little piece I made to share love with everyone, even the trees!

EVERY ORDER PLACED until February 5 
 WILL RECEIVE A FREE

LOVE PACKET! 

 Each will be different and filled with fun love items, ribbon, stickers, rub-ons, papers, tulle, and who knows what else? 

Sharing the Love

Did you hear about the DIY Design Studio 

Valentine's Day Card Swap?

Well, it's true!  Share the love with other crafters and get in on this card swap.  You can follow this link to get some oh so cute (and FREE) images to make your cards.  There are instructions as well that tell you how to participate. 

Here I will show you the process of making one of the cards I will be sending out.  My card started with a pretty piece of cardstock as my background that had a vintage vibe to it.  It looked like an old canvas with oversized florals painted on it.  I tattered up the edges a bit and inked them with a blue ink pad glided directly on the surface edge.  I adhered that on my card base with PPA Glue.  I then added a gold glam sticker frame.  I LOVE these stickers.  They are so very versetile.  Next, I inked up a couple Bazzill chip board pieces with the same blue ink as the edges.  And, then gave the entire surface a wash with chalk pain in the color Vintage. I wanted to knock everything back just a bit and give it a more worn look.  

   

(the images above are me dry fitting the elements 

before 100% committing and the one below 

is after white washing the card surface)

And, then it was time to adhere all the final elements.  First, the chip boards after also giving them a wash with the Vintage chalk paint.  Then, some pretty pale blue embroidery floss, a couple bridal embellishments from my stash and then a beautiful collage image that also got a bit of white wash. 

For a finishing touch I added a handful of dainty paper and pearl flowers here and there.  That really brightened the whole card. 

This card is soft and aged and sure to give anyone the warm fuzzies when they open it. 

Thanks for hanging out with me for this tutorial.  I hope you join our Valentine's Day card swap and share in the love too!  

Have a great weekend! 

~Steph

Supplies used - 

Valentine Images

Embroidery Floss

Chalk Paint - in "Vintage"

Valentine Images

Paper & Pearl Flowers

Gold Glam Sticker

Aleene's Tacky Glue

PPA Glue