Butterfly Migration

Fall is here on the East Coast, but really an Indian Summmer. Last weekend the monarch butterflies were migrating through Cape May Ne Jersey. My friend, Mary Ellen, an artist and iconographer sent me some stunning photos. You cant get more Art Full than this.. Nature is the best teacher after all.

Reiki Ranch

Hot enough for you?? how are those color pages coming?? I took a break today and went to visit a friend in the country. She is an artist who has an elderly mother living with her and realized that she could not work away from home. Soooo she has spent the last year CREATING a business in her home. She has made an art gallery and Reiki studio in her basement, and started a therapeutic riding camp in her back pasture. She is using this time to come up with services and activities she can offer from her "Reiki Ranch". Bravo for Creativity, Chutzpah (sp),and grabbing the bull by the horns, metaphorically speaking. If you build it they will come. What can you turn around tomorrow, that could be viewed as an obstacle today?

Where is the life and color in your life? Is it in your clothes or personal ornaments?,the natural plants and flowers around you inside and out? what about your fingers and toes? Take a break and add a different color palette to your life. It may surprise you. PS How are your color pages coming along?

Art Therapy Blog Award

Hooray!!! This blog along with 44 others has been awarded Top Art Therapy Award for 2010. Click below to gather information on creativity from all the others. Now, I will really have to work to produce for all of you!


Medical Billing

The dog days of summer have arrived and with them a release from the grip of soul blistering heat. Go get under the sprinkler or hose while you still can. the flowers and grass have dried and withered BUT your creative self lives and breathes. time for a new journal!!! Pick a favorite color. Don't think about it too much. Just take the first one that comes to mind. Now go rip out some magazine pages, movie tickets, newpaper ads in that color. When you start looking it will appear. Grab that glue stick and make a collage on a piece paper (any size). Put it away.Tomorrow choose another color and do the same thing. In seven days we will make a wonderful book with the papers.

Farmers Market

A dogwood in full dress and a trip to the Farmers market tell me that spring is here in full force. Get out there and DANCE!

Joy full and Art full journal entries

I ams starting a joy journal to make art about those things that make me happy and joyful. You might do the same. This is a collage picture of a chocolate garden where pixies live and gypsies dance and we are all seduced by beautiful chocolates of flavors of our heart's desire. Can you think of anything more joy-full? As the trees burst into full bloom and Mistress spring arrives, just imagine yourself sitting in a garden of chocolates or whatever else makes your heart sing.

art full and tantalizing billboard

Derby Day has come and gone with the greatest upset in recent times. A real hometown boy comes from behind and steals the show. What a victory for all hard working talents who remain unsung in this world.A photo of some Derby Hats to celebrate his victory,. On another disparate note, in the Philly airport, what do I see but this FABU billboard advertising a cell phone of all things! How art-full can you get

Nurses' Art Full Works/ Breathing Beads

Here are some breathing beads made by Helping Hands for their own self care. Just string together colorful beads leaving a space so that they can move on the string or wire. Attach a small charm or "talisman" to the end of the string. Now, with each movement of each bead breathe in and out slowly. At the end of the strand you will feel relaxed. The number of beads and length of string is up to you. Make it your choice.

Wherever you go there are fabulous sites. this was a recent trip to the Northern Sar Desert in Arabia to help a women's rug weaving cooperative.We took some time off to see remnants of a village and this staircase was all that was left.

Creative Minds and Coffee Lines

Anna Freud said that " Creative minds have always been known to survive any kind of bad training."
So true, so true. It is a relentless blessing/curse for the creatives in this world. But, overcome it we do and find beauty is all things, colors, shapes, and lines. Joy in a sunny day after the grey skies and downpours.
Take a cardboard ring used to protect your hand from the take-out paper cup you carry from the coffee shop. Alter it in some way to make it appear differently. Glue sparkles to it, collage onto it a magazine image, or stamp it with colored inks. Re-use it when you go in for your coffee/ Or better yet give it to the person behind you in line? What an unexpected delight.

Eggville and signs of blossoming

The Easter bunny was busy this weekend delivering golden eggs to my assorted small people. Golden Eggs are best found in greener pastures but have very humble plastic beginings at the dollar store assisted by a can of bright golden spray paint. Puffy paint and stickers complete the small gifts from Mr B. and everyone is pleased. Always remember NO TALENT REQUIRED. Anyone can produce this magic. The blossoms are all for show. I couldn't resist.

Sister Spring

Spring is about to be sprung from the cold, grey, and clammy grasp of winter! If showers or even snow is still a possibility looming in your future it is time to bring forth a little spring fling! Take a bare branch from the yard that has fallen to the ground or in a nearby park if you are a city dweller. find that bit of colored tissue paper in your wrapping drawer and a glue stick. Scrunch up tiny little gum wrapper pieces of coloerd paper and glue to the branch, like buds. Put the branch in a muk, coke or other bottle and place near your computer, kitchen sink, desk, or bedside. It will help you get through the muck!

Vibrant Life Design Workshop Series

I will be starting a new Altered Journal Workshop the third week in April in the Philadelphia area. A Vibrant Life Design Series begins with the Journal and will continue with other fun activities such as Spirit Art,Worry Brooms, Breathing Beading, and Heart's Desire Dolls. these fun creative workshops require no talent and are designed to carry you on wings of laughter and energy.

The Real Life Returns with an Artfull Shift

Reality smacks me right in the face after a time away from responsibility. Dirty laundry, bills to pay, garbage to take out, pumping gas..all of the normal responsibilities of everyday life that are removed when on vacation. It is as if they didn't exist and you are living just fine and then BOOM, back with a vengeance! For an ARTFULL approach to the reality checks of life, try this. Everytime one of those pesky chores comes up, give it a face-lift by viewing it through a colored lens. Find something amusing or funny to smile about, lighten the load by changing the point of view. I found it helped me get through the re-entry and the entry in my visual journal was the grouch being lost in a pillow fight!

Art and Relaxation: The Real Thing

WELL!! It's about lying around, laughing, and doing absolutely nothing but making art and deciding what to eat or where to look next! It inspires living in the moment , which is what we aspire to but it feels as if it saps the body and mind of intention and drive.This is the scary part. We SAY we want more time to ourselves and relaxation (there are thousands of books, classes, blogspots and instructions on how to achieve this state of being) but in fact we don't know what to DO with the unknown, unstructured time. It takes practice to be a human being and not a human doing. I am practicing and hope you give yourself a break today and try 5 minutes of just that...BEING...not doing.

Oh Oh!!! I have been lost and away from my blog for too too long. so sorry for my negligence. for your art full practice try making a small journal and putting magazine pictures in it. Just tear out wonderful images that resonate for you. I have become an image thief! Wherever I am looking through magazines if I see an image that appeals, I am an irreverent ripper. Take any little book from the dollar store that offers open pages, lined or unlined. Get yourself a glue stick and carry it around with your book. You will find this practice will become a wonderful new way to view the world. Keep grocery lists, to do lists and notes, quotes and other items along with your images. when the book is full start another one.

Embolden the Sense of Who You Are!

I am now offering a new Life Design Workshop: The Art Filled Altered Journal. To enlighten your heart and raise your spirits, you will create an image journal, filled with ornaments, words, pictures, and affirmations that hold meaning for you and embolden the sense of who you are -- the one-of-a-kind You.

NO TALENT REQUIRED! All materials will be provided, and you have ME to guide you and make real your wishes and dreams.

Art-Full Holiday in Mexico

Right now I am relaxing and creating art with my sister in La Penita De Jaltemba, a small fishing village north of Puerta Vallarta. We are renewing energies and visioning our next creative ventures through altered art journals. I have included some wonderful photos that my sister has taken in the last few days. Hope you enjoy them.

Art-Full Possiblities: Vibrant Life Design

Welcome to my blog. I am so excited to be up and running! My business of assisting people to live a more vibrant, art-full life is now ready to go live.

I invite you to come with me on this journey. My name is Mary Donald, MA, ATR, BC, LPC. And what does that mean? I am a licensed art therapist and it is my joy to give you, through my art-full suitcase of tools, the means for you to have a more vivacious, vibrant life!