{"id":235,"date":"2011-01-07T12:05:12","date_gmt":"2011-01-07T11:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.maritspaperworld.com\/blog\/?p=235"},"modified":"2013-02-03T14:57:51","modified_gmt":"2013-02-03T13:57:51","slug":"an-unusual-encounter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maritspaperworld.com\/blog\/an-unusual-encounter\/","title":{"rendered":"An unusual encounter"},"content":{"rendered":"

* Freewheelin’ Friday*<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The New Year is one week old, and it’s time to tell you my word for this year.<\/p>\n

Yes, I too choose ‘One Little Word’ for 2011.
\nDo I have to explain to you what that is?
\nI guess not, but for those who aren’t familiar with this concept:<\/p>\n

A few years ago, Ali Edwards<\/a> began a tradition of choosing one word
\nfor herself each January \u2013 and a lot of bloggers followed the tradition.
\nThe idea is to choose one word that sums up what you want for yourself in
\nthe New Year. A word that you can focus on, mediate on, and reflect upon
\nin your daily life. Last year my word was something I wanted to bring
\ninto my life more often – and I admirably succeeded in that!
\nMy word in 2010 was smile…<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

I began thinking about my word in December.
\nIt didn’t take me long to know what the word had to be about,
\nbut it took me quite some time to find the matching word.
\nIt had to include the fact that I try to stay close to myself –
\nin my art as well as in the decisions I make in daily life –<\/p>\n

“core”, “close” and “authenticity” weren’t exactly what I meant<\/p>\n

because<\/p>\n

it also has to include that I keep looking at other people’s needs –
\nand keep realizing how my words and actions have an impact on others….
\nit’s difficult to explain what I mean with this exactly – and it is even
\nmore difficult to find a word that includes this.<\/p>\n

“alert”, “modest” and “humble” somehow felt too negative<\/p>\n

And then I found this:<\/p>\n

AWARENESS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here is the Merriam-Webster Definition<\/p>\n

: an awareness of one’s own personality or individuality<\/span><\/p>\n

Definition of AWARE<\/p>\n

1 archaic <\/em>: watchful, wary
\n2 : having or showing realization, perception, or knowledge<\/span><\/p>\n

I made the first page in my brand new art journal about this word…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I thought my word has something “Zen-ish” (whatever that is… it just felt
\nthat way to me) and that’s why I used that gorgeous, mystic photo from
\na magazine. I made this page on Monday, still a bit puzzled…
\nDid I choose the right word?<\/p>\n

Well yes!<\/p>\n

‘Cause yesterday, I went into town to buy ribbon (band?) to use
\nfor bookbinding. There is this haberdashery shop in Eindhoven
\nthat almost explodes: from top to bottom it is packed with lace,
\nribbon, buttons, thread and so on.
\nIn the middle of that store, at a big table, sits a man who cuts the
\nmaterials to your preferred length. As long as I can remember (and
\nI live in this town for over 25 years now) he sits there and knows
\njust about everything about fabrics and sewing techniques.<\/p>\n

I came to his table with the materials I’d picked to let him name
\nthe prize and cut the length… and out of the blue he looks at me
\nand says:<\/p>\n

“I am Zen.”<\/p>\n

That man.
\nI never, ever heared him talk about anything else then fabrics,
\nand now this. Wow! He started a conversation about life, Zen and
\n(yes!) awareness. Is this a weird coincidence or what?
\nI like to see it as a sign that I choose the right word for 2011.
\nNow I will try to incorporate the word into my life –<\/p>\n

(Oh, and the new challenge at Dutch Dares<\/a> is to scrap about
\nyour little word of 2011 – so I submit this page!)<\/p>\n

This post is getting long… so I won’t spill much words
\nand lead you straight to this page:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I made it for A Year in the Life of an Art Journal<\/a>
\nThe challenge is the one from October 30th – FREE<\/p>\n

(I still have to make 4 challenges: slowly but surely I will finish this project.<\/p>\n

And a funny card I made!<\/p>\n

This is for my brother, who was called “Rick de Kikker” (Rick the frog)
\nwhen he was young. When I saw Theresa<\/a> had used paper with frogs on it for
\nan assignment in my workshop, I asked her which brand it was and explained
\nthe “Rick the frog” story. She kindly offered to mail me some left overs she had
\nand I received them last month. Thank you so much sweetie!!!<\/p>\n

Isn’t the scrappers world amazing? This paper was send to me all the way from
\nAmerica, and now this card is on it’s way to Canada, where my brother lives.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

One last remark before we dance into the weekend (see, I also take
\nthe positive attitude from last year – ‘smile’ – with me into 2011!)<\/p>\n

Monday, January 10, the workshop Let it Loose will re-start.
\nThis time, the lessons and the comments on the community
\nwill be in Dutch only.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Dus ben je een Nederlandse scrapbookster, kaartenmaakster –
\nof op een andere manier creatief, en wil je meer leren over
\nart journaling en je creativiteit op een persoonlijke manier
\nuitbreiden? Lees dan meer over deze workshop hier<\/a>.
\nInschrijven is mogelijk tot 17 Januari!!!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

* Freewheelin’ Friday* The New Year is one week old, and it’s time to tell you my word for this year. Yes, I too choose ‘One Little Word’ for 2011. Do I have to explain to you what that is? I guess not, but for those who aren’t familiar with this concept: A few years […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,1,9,17],"tags":[21,20,25,26,23,19,24,1141],"class_list":["post-235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-artful-amblings","category-uncategorized","category-art-journals","category-chronicles-2011","tag-aware","tag-awareness","tag-challenge","tag-dutch-dares","tag-free","tag-olw","tag-rick-de-kikker","tag-zen","entry","has-post-thumbnail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maritspaperworld.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maritspaperworld.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maritspaperworld.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maritspaperworld.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maritspaperworld.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.maritspaperworld.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maritspaperworld.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maritspaperworld.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maritspaperworld.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}