New Artistic Mother's Group Forming; I Invite You to Join Us

UPDATE: MAY 17TH, 2011. THIS GROUP IS NOW CLOSED TO NEW PARTICIPANTS. THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST. 

I have this deep desire in me to create; but as a busy momma, it is so difficult to find the time; but yet so needed. I do not wish to wait until my children are grown. I would like to live the life of an artistic mother before my children and in turn spark their creativity as well.

Being creative helps me to slow down and bring a sense of wonder to my life and that of my family. I feel that motherhood and art go hand in hand. As Donna Rodgers of Homemaking Made Easy so wisely states, "Art and homemaking are inseparable, and I want moms to know that they can do both. It's my personal vision that our homes and mothering are the place where we are destined and designed by nature to express our art." And to quote Shannon Mucha of Blu-Bambu "Art as life; life as art."

I started this group because I have a hard time balancing doing art every day along with carrying on with my every day life. I figured that other women might struggle with this as well. I thought it would be nice if we all came together as an accountability group to encourage one another, find inspiration from one another and build the habit of doing something artistic each day, even if only for 15 minutes, as we go through the 12 projects in Shona Cole's book, The Artistic Mother. I have already read the book. It's fantastic. Even though she has the workshop where she takes you step by step through the projects, it really isn't a project or technique book. It is more of a conceptual book where she is sharing her vision for making art something you do each day. She shares why it is so vital. She says that as moms we should not deny that inner need to create because then we risk depression. When moms are unhappy, they yell at their kids. Then we have unhappy families, and the family is seen as not such a nice place to be. When moms are happy, she is nice to her children; and they grow up to be happy people. Also, when mom is doing art, she is passing that creativity on to her children as well. She is making her home a more beautiful place and therefore the world a more beautiful place. Everyone benefits. It's important for you to be happy, Mom, for so many reasons.

She helps also the reader to make a vision statement, set goals, set up an art area, to prioritize and suggests ways to get rid of distractions that keep you from your art. She suggest ways to fit in doing art while running a busy household. I am getting so much out of it. I think it will help me as well as other women if we can do this together. Her book also spotlights seven working artists.

So we will spend two weeks on each project instead of the recommended one since I know that life happens to give everyone a chance to keep up. But if anyone gets behind, that's okay. It's a no-pressure group. We will blog about our progress at the end of each week and share the links of the other participants so that everyone can click around and keep up with the others.

Some of our participants include one of the women who participated in the Round Robin Collaboration on Page 22, Cindy Mayfield of Yapping Cat Studio; Audrey Hernandez of Small Creations, one of the guest artists, on Page 124; Shannon Mucha of Blu-Bamboo, another guest artist in the book on Page 16; the designer of the book, Marissa Bowers, Vanessa Spencer, the shoppe manager for Stampington & Company and many working artists who do art shows but find they need this because although they do their art on a pretty regular basis they find themselves working like crazy when getting ready for a show, letting the house fall apart; and then when the show is over, they get out of the habit of doing a little art each day. This will help them find that balance that they need. So this group offers something for everyone. So far we have an amazing group of women who have signed up. The list is at the bottom of my post if you want to click around to see who is doing this. I update it daily. I feel so honored to be a part of this with them. I started the group just a few days ago, and it is already growing so quickly. We could possibly have hundreds join us. Another benefit is that we will find other great blogs and others will find us because we are all linking to each other. If the list is too long for everyone to put the links on their posts each week when they do their end-of-the-week progress post, they could just put the link to my blog stating that I have the master list so that everyone can visit around and keep up with everyone. Or they could put the list with links in their sidebar even. Whatever they want to do. Our launch date is Saturday, March 6th. But anyone can jump in at any time if they can't start at the beginning.

Going through Shona's book has given me just the right inspiration to help me build the habit of doing something artistic each day. Shona Cole of An Artful Life, a young mother of five, ages 1 to 10, has found a way to integrate motherhood and art instead of waiting till the children are older to focus on her artistic side. She is offering a free copy of her book. Go here to find out how you can get one.

As Shona says, "There are so many distractions in life, we need to write down our vision and goals, print them out, read and re-read them every day. And what also helps to keep us on track is having blogger accountability." That is what is so great about this project.

For more reading about how to fit art into your life and more information about this incredible book, you can also read my post titled "How I get It All Done." It is on my sewing blog. Click here if interested.

And for a blog that inspires children to be creative, I would like to recommend my 9 year old daughter's blog, Emily of Super Stitches. She crafts and sews.

Catch the vision. Join us today. The more the merrier. I would also like to invite grandmothers to join us because you spend time with your grandchildren and finding time for you to nurture your creative side can be a challenge as well. Let me know if you'd like to join us, and I'll add your name to the list.

If you are joining us, you will need to get the book as soon as possible from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or some other bookstore so that you have time to gather your supplies and start collecting a stash of papers, newspapers, magazines, ticket stubs, scrap booking stickers, etc. The first project of the book will have us starting out making our background papers.

And please do a blog post about it and invite others to join. Please give a link to my blog for those who may wish to join so they can come here and get the details and sign in. I am keeping a master list of all participants.

Each week do a post of your progress as you go through the book. Please include a mention of our group and link to my blog. I am keeping a master of all participants in my sidebar. That way everyone can click around and see the other participants' progress as well.

To make things easier for everyone since our group has grown so much,instead of having to put all of the links in each post or on your sidebar, I have made a button for the group. Just grab my button and put that in your sidebar. 

Please check my blog often for tips, notes of encouragement and exciting news. Coming soon will be a post about a Flickr group for our Mothers' art group and also a giveaway

Thanks and have fun!

List of participants so far. Is your name on this list?

1. Trudy Callan of Artistic Creations With Trudy, group organizer
2. Linn of Peace Living
3. Jenny of All Roads Lead Home
4. Nicole Austin of Life is Beautiful
5. Shannon of Blu-Bambu. Shannon is one of the guest artists in the book on Page 16.
6. *Cindy Mayfield of Yapping Cat Studio is mentioned in the book on Page 22 as part of the Round Robin Collaboration. Good going, Cindy.
7. Deb Robertson of Works in Progress
8.* Lindsay of Banter
9. Debra of Florentine Lily
10. Joyce of Nanas Little Hobby
11. Stampelot Sue of Stamp Art-o-Rama
12. Marissa Bowers of Art * Design * Photo. Marissa is the book's designer! Didn't she do a beautiful job?
13. Dani of And a Sprinkle of Fairy Dust
14. Kathryn of Flexie Smit
15. Crafter of Creatively Chaotic Days
16. Kathy Smith of Laughable Life
17. Mandy of Eight Is Enough
18. Jennifer of Coplings Hobbit Hole
19. *Angelique of An Artistic Mother's Exploration
20. Lynn Toomey of Let's Gogh Art.
21. Kathryn of KV Creative Designs.
22. bitowhimsey of The Road to Whimsey.blogspot.com
23. *Beth of Acorn Pies
24. Diva Kreszl of Diva's Musings
25. Nicks of Nicks Arty Stuff
26. Jeannie of Backroad Family Adventure
27. Bethany Kartchner of Creative Ruminations
28. Holly of Dreams on the Horizon.
29. Kristi of Lived In Life.
30. *Lucy Edson of Lucy's Crafty Life.
31. Audrey of Small Creations.. Audrey is one of the guest artists in the book on Page 124.
32. Melinda of Melinda's Fabric Fancie's
33. Francesca of Ode To Posterity
34. Jenny of Jenny Powers Art
35. Shelly of Green Chic
36. Rebeccakes of Perpetual Backburner
37. Kristin of Twinkle Twinkle
38. Jen of Mysteries of the Juniper
39. Dana of School For Us
40. Ellen of Shimmer & Tulle
41. Vicki of TX Scrap Addict
42. Java Venus of Java's Whimsy
43. Alena of Serinissima
44. Tracee of Vintage Lilliput
45. *Mama Magpie of Midwest Magpies
46. Becky of Create-ive Space
47. Susanne of Zueeuz
48. Jennifer of Art Bliss
49. Lisa of Life Unity
50. *Kim of Whimsy and the Word
51. Shawna of Why Not Both
52. Grace of A Lovely Thought......An Artsy Side of Life
53. Sharon Manning of Sharon Manning Photography
54. Vanessa Spencer of My Art, My Life.... and shoppe manager for Stampington & Company
55.  Lissy of Memories Contained
56.  Colette of Tea Rose
57.  Contessa Kris of Collage Contessa
58.  Anita of Creative Space
59.  Colleen Blake of Main Street Memories
60.  Latisha of Handmaiden Voyage
61.  Mamma of Mamma Loves
62.  Vickie of Art-A-Mama
63.  Lis of Dandelion Seeds & Dreams
64.  Tina of The New England Cupboard
65.  Amelia of Notes From the Edge
66.  Julie of Julie Jordan Scott
67.  Laura of An Artful Passage
68.  Melody of The Demanding Doll
69.  Suzette of Shabbie Skraps
70.  Laurie of A Million Bushels
71.  Adrienne of A Soul Journal
72.  Eden of Artful Fairy Tales
73.  * Monica of Bohemian Shadows
74.  Thien-Kim aka Kim of Cup of Creativi-Tea
75.  Over Yonder of Who's Learning? Who's Teaching?
76.  Imene of A Journey to a Simple Happy Life
77.  Rani of Scrap Yoga
78.  Andrea of Vintage Bella Studio
79.  Heather of My Everyday Graces
80.  Bertie of Life at Wildberry Cottage
81.  Beverley of Bunny's Girl
82.  Rebecca of My Momentary Lapses of Reason
83.  Lorraine of Love of Collage
84.  Jen of By Jen - My Creative Adventure and Inspiration
85.  Carin of Created With Love
86.  Robinsunne
87.  Sassy of Keep Me In Your Heart
88.  Express of Express & Create Imagery
89.  Emily of Super Stitches
90.  Johwey of Johwey Redington
91.  Esther of Emakesart
92.  Tonya of Plain and Joyful Living
93.  Deb of Hand Stitched
94.  Leslie of Words of Me Project
95.  Jodi of Opened Door
96.  *Kelly of Artful Happiness, News & Notes From The Happy Shack
97.  Deanna of A Crafty Mom's Life
98.  Cindi aka Ericksoc of So, That's Why!
99.  Jade Erin Scarlett of Jade Erin Scarlett OSCI
100 Kristen of Acorn Hill Studios
101 Lisa of All Things Wonderful
102.Sonya of Sonya Mac Designs
103.Dawn of Life Lines Journaling
104.Tiffani of Breakfast at Tiffani's (& Lunch & Dinner &...)
105: Jess of The Rented Cottage Life
Now we just need you!

Note: Due to copyright laws, we are not allowed to do tutorials or step-by-step photos of the projects on our blogs or take photos of the pages in the book and post them. You may post a photo of your version of the project and talk about your experiences and feelings relating to it.

Also, if you are doing this project with a friend, each person must have their book unless you are doing it together under the same roof. No photocopying of the book, please.