Keep It Moving: Move Into Fall
When the “Keep It Moving” theme was first proposed for the September Blog Train, I wasn’t terribly enthused about it. As a disabled person, “keep it moving” generally means “can I actually get out of bed this morning and accomplish my day?”, not “hey, let’s play football” or “let’s do yoga”. Psoriatic Arthritis tends to be degenerative, and the Psoriasis that goes along with it, likewise: if you move too much, you will legit wind up in a condition where you cannot move at all. So my life is governed by the Spoon Theory: I have so many spoons at the beginning of the day, and once those are gone, they’re gone. Stick a fork in my hiney; I’m done. Each spoon is an activity–whether that means sitting at the computer and designing a new set for y’all, or doing the laundry, or washing the dishes, or even something as seemingly relaxing as fussy cutting. So I have to choose those activities very wisely.
A closer inspection of the palette–which at face value seemed a little “all over the place” to me, compared to past palettes–got my wheels turning in some new directions, though. The teal, orange, yellow, and purple called to my mind images of a flowing brook, rushing over rocks, and overhung with branches of changing leaves. In the Fall, when the world seems to be tucking itself in to fall asleep for the Winter, the truth is, there is a lot of movement: leaves fall from the trees; rain rushes from the heavens to the thirsty earth; kids move in to college. That flowing brook that first came to my mind became a Japanese river, beside which geishas dance, and in which colorful koi swim. I hope this re-envisioning of the initial theme will move you!
This kit is free for Personal Use, Scrap for Hire, or Scrap for Others (PU, S4H, S4O). Individual items may not be resold, and your downloading of this product in no way transfers copyright. Individual items may not be “digitally remastered”, and then resold in digital form.
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Really Gorgeous Kit Thankyou For Sharing Most Kind xXx:)
these kit is splendid !!!!!
Thank you so much! I got absolutely lost in it, once I began working on it, and I’m so happy that comes through!
Love your elegant tapestry of textures and colors. You have a marvelous way of melding it into beauty! Thanks so much.
Oh wow! You just made my day! Thank you so very much for such a lovely compliment!
I love your take on the theme! Beautiful kit! Thank you for sharing!
I love the love the colors and the elements. Thank you so much.
Thanks for sharing! =)
Thank you so much – this is lovely! And I loved reading your thought process as you developed your interpretation!
Thank you for sharing this lovely mini! You are an inspiration!
Wow! Thank you right back! That means a lot to me. You guys keep me inspired to keep creating.
Your kit is exceptional! Thank you so much! I think Asian themes are underrepresented in digiscrapping and yours are elegant.
Thank you! You guys have given me some of the most beautiful feedback on this kit that I’ve ever received. My heart and mind are as warm as a cup of salted caramel tea (yes, that exists!) right now, and I can’t thank y’all enough for that.
Thank you so much for your beautiful kit. I love the elegance and subtlety. I think Asian themes are not used often enough.
These are absolutely gorgeous! Love them! thanks so very much!
The colors are amazing! Thank you so much for sharing. I am in the beginning stages of Psoriasis Arthritis and surprisingly lucky that my psoriosis is very well hidden on my scalp under all my hair.
So glad you love it, Melissa! Little Psoriatic Arthritis tip: St. John’s Wort, both orally and topically. There are days when I honestly wouldn’t survive without it. Also, Turmeric. I hope your PA will stay as relatively-easy-to-deal with as your skin-stuff.
Absolutely beautiful papers, Michelle! One of the reasons I love these blog trains is to see everyone’s unique take on the theme. Your portion is so vastly different from mine (or anyone else’s!), but I am already hatching plans to use that first teal/blue paper with some elements from the stuff I created for a page! Thank you for sharing your beautiful work!
Please do come over to the Iaconagraphy Facebook Page and share what you make! I would LOVE to see! (And thanks so much for the wonderful feedback–that goes for everybody. It means more to me than y’all can ever know!)
I don’t know when I liked something as much as these designs. I will enjoy using them.
Wow! I love where your creative process took you for this month’s theme/color palette. This is really beautiful! I love the Japanese theme & the soft, gentle colors. Thank you for sharing!!
lovely touch thanks
Very nice 🙂 Thank you!
Thank you for this kit and for sharing one of your “spoons.” Yours is my favorite on the Sept. BT. Very beautiful.
Thank you so much, Laurie! So glad you love it so much. That’s what it’s all about, ya know? I’m always nervous about sharing things like my “spoons”, so thanks for that as well. It feels great knowing it’s okay to let my life shine through with this stuff.
Unexpected as a theme but lovely. I prefer this kit over the others. A lot of people in my family including my 10 year old son doesn’t understood the “spoon” concept. All he he knew up until my husband’s death almost 21 months ago that Dad did almost all the housework while also working 70+ hours a week at trucking job. My son thinks all I do is sit around doing nothing all day yet he sees the effects the effect of Mom during more than she should because he is to little to do some of the stuff and Dad is gone. Never worry about sharing. People will not know if you don’t let them know. Just this past school year I volunteered to chaperone on one of my son’s fieldtrips because 1- it was close enough to the house that I could drive my own car there and not ride the bus 2- I could get there a little early so I could rent a scooter because I would not be able to walk the entire open air museum. Instead of asking me what I was capable of doing she told me she would give me my child assignment once we all got there. I was assigned only my own child and I was told I could tag along with one of the other parents if I wanted to but failed to inform that parent of the game plan so my child and I spent the whole field trip just with ourselves. Later on the teacher asked us if we had joined the other group and I said no as that Mom walked off as soon as she came out of the bathroom (I was watching her group of kids and didn’t ask me if I needed to use the bathroom) when I went into the bathroom. The teacher tells me then that she didn’t assign me any kids because she didn’t know if I could walk inside the buildings. I said well if you had any questions on my abilities then you should have asked me instead of assuming things since we seem to communicate really well any other time. I hate when people learn I have medical problems they assume they know all my limitations. Sorry, got on my soapbox. Take care
Kids tend to see Moms as Superwoman; as some Divine Force at work in their lives. They’re not really trying to be insensitive; I honestly believe that. Adults on the other hand can often be as cruel as the kids on the playground were when we were five. I’m sorry you had to deal with that. I totally get it, as I’ve been through a lot of similar stuff. People often automatically assume that because I’m disabled I’m on disability–I’m not. Back in North Carolina, where I’m originally from, apparently even if you leave trails of blood when you walk (which happens to me sometimes), you’re not considered disabled. My design career IS my job; that, and Tarot/Oracle Card Readings, and the occasional novella/nonfiction book. This IS my livelihood, yet people constantly regard it as a hobby, and treat it in kind. Spoons or no spoons, though, people like us are nothing if we don’t live our passions–sometimes our passions are the only things that succeed in getting us out of bed in the morning. So I hope that no matter how many “forks” you wind up with in your life, your passions will always blaze bright. I’m honored to have you along for this journey!
Love what you did with the theme !! Thanks for sharing it with us <3
Michelle, your kit is absolutely gorgeous! I adore the soft, watercolour effect you have created – and it was really interesting to read about your inspiration and thought process. Well done!
Ta muchly! 😀 I’d love to see what you do with it, so do make your way over to the Facebook Page at some point (facebook.com/Iaconagraphy) and share, please!
Gorgeous Papers! Thank you for sharing.
This kit is beautiful! Love your interpretation of the theme. And on that note, your post was quite moving. Thank you for sharing your work. 🙂
Thank you so much! Y’all have no idea what this tremendous feedback has meant to me! Not only does it feel wonderful to make something that people find beautiful, but it feels *incredible* to be able to share my story and receive such profound acceptance. I’m humbled, and you’ve all given me a tremendous amount of peace (oddly deep as that may sound….).
Stunning kit…I love all things Japanese… Thanks you.
Japan has had a profound influence on our lives–I have a minor in Ethnomusicology, with Emphasis on Asian Musics, and I was a drummer with a Japanese Drumming Ensemble in college. It’s been twenty years, and I can still play Yatai. lol I also learned and performed Lion Dance (Shi-shi-mai); obviously my health was a teensy bit better back then. 😉
I absolutely love the kit. I can understand the spoon theory. I have a congenital birth defect neuorlogical called an Arnold Chiari Malformation. This is awareness month. It is rare and few know about it. Most days I am out of spoons and not even close to done. Sports even yoga are impossible for me. Movement is being lucky enough to get household stuff done. Thank you for your part
My best friend, Wilde (who you will often encounter on our Facebook page), has spina bifida. Knowing her for 40 years has taught me that folks born with disabilities are born warriors–you have to be, to survive. Getting from point A to point B may be a daily challenge, which those who haven’t lived it do not realize isn’t weakness at all: “regular” folks might be made of steel, but y’all are made of tempered steel, which is much stronger stuff! So glad you love the kit; I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you might consider sharing your makes with it over at the Iaconagraphy Facebook Page. We’d all love to see!
thank you, so lovely!
We all have our disabilities in life. With your kit you have shown how you keep moving every day! So glad that you gave up a “spoon” for us because it is so beautiful!!
Art and creating are definitely a huge part of what keep me going these days, that’s for sure! I’m honored that you love this set so much.
Gorgeous colors!! Stunning kit!! Everything is just amazingly stunning!!! Thank you so much for sharing!!!
Such lovely gifts, thanks for all you share
Gorgeous, thank you for sharing. I agree about the colors, but you got it right, a stream with Autumn leaves overhead. Lovely.
Thank you so much for sharing – I feel a tremendous amount of peace, just looking at your creations x x With love from Anthea in Botswana
Your peace has to be one of the greatest blessings I’ve been given as an artist. What an absolutely amazing thing to accomplish with art….Thank you for that. Your peace brings me peace.
Thank you for sharing this gorgeous kit!
Thanks so much!!