Weekend Creative : March #2 : What's Your Message

Lessismore


Remember back to that first Weekend Creative? The prompt that weekend was about seeing and putting a word into a new context - taking things out of their ordinary environment and creating something new in the process.


As I was packing up some things for Simon to play with in the car on our long drive today I came across the mini Magna Doodle. I was thinking about living with words and what that means to me. I was thinking about the chalkboard I recently found at Goodwill and how much I am enjoying the words and concepts I have listed there in my office. I was also thinking about all the darn toys we have accumulated for Simon and how in reality he plays with just a few. Less is more.


In so many ways, from so many different angles, less really is more. 


What's your message this weekend, this day, this month, this minute, this year? Find a creative way to visually document a message, take a photo, and then tell the story either on a scrapbook layout, in a journal, on your blog, etc.


Or simply leave a message for your family members or yourself. What is is that you need to see today?

Art - and life - is about improvisation, discovery and awe. It is about leaning over the edge and staring deep into the abyss. It's about staring into our own inadequacies and, just as we think we might come up short, finding the answer that we need was there all the time. As we create we not only reveal Reality, we reveal ourselves.
[ Todd Henry ]


Posting about this tonight made me also think of this and this fantastic idea (that would be a great Easter weekend project as well) which also lead me back to this message and this one too.

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26 thoughts

  1. Tracey says…
    03/21/2008

    YES! Less IS more!
    The less we have distracting us,
    the more we can savor what we do have.
    I think this is a major challenge for our generation...avoiding "toomuchness", keeping things simple.
    Also, I just got "Life Artist" in the mail yesterday. (Finally treated myself!) WOW. Such inspiration. I felt free and creative reading it. Loved every bit of it.
    Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!

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  2. Scraptician says…
    03/21/2008

    Many layers/much depth to this post, Ali. Thanks for prompting me to think about it. Especially appropriate this weekend, I believe. Happy Easter - blessings to you guys.

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  3. Jill says…
    03/21/2008

    I totally agree! Except when it comes to scrapbooking products, that is!! :-)

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  4. Molly I says…
    03/21/2008

    like this one :)
    happy easter weekend!

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  5. Nicky Anderson says…
    03/21/2008

    Love the messages - they are so true.
    Hope you have a safe drive today.
    Nicky

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  6. Sue says…
    03/21/2008

    Less IS more! I totally agree and have spent the last few months trying to live by that sentence. Love the hidden message idea also. Thanks for the inspiration you give me.
    Sue

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  7. Susan says…
    03/21/2008

    I love the photobooth idea! I actually did a series of large watercolors based on these type of images. Here are a couple of links to them: http://susanspransyart.blogspot.com/2008/02/blog-post_409.html
    http://susanspransyart.blogspot.com/2008/02/blog-post_1469.html
    http://susanspransyart.blogspot.com/2008/02/blog-post_1469.html (This last one is me.)

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  8. Susan says…
    03/21/2008

    Oops, sorry wrong link on the last one. This is the correct link. http://susanspransyart.blogspot.com/2008/02/blog-post_4040.html

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  9. Rachel says…
    03/21/2008

    My current message is
    Be the change
    there are so many things that I think to myself, "gee, I wish this was different"
    Well, the only way those things are going to be different is if I make them different. No more complaining at home or at work. In order to make a change I have to be the change that I want to see.

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  10. Laurie says…
    03/21/2008

    I love this! Thanks, Ali, you are the best. I will be laid up for a short while due to surgery and I might be able to do the weekend creative ideas at that time.

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  11. BeckyKay says…
    03/21/2008

    This is something that we are totally working on in our house. We want to pay off all of our debt, so all extra money is being focused on that goal. part of our plan is to have a couple HUGE garage sales this year to do that. As I get ready for those sales, I am finding that it is completely freeing to get rid of STUFF. I can hardly wait for May and June to arrive, so all the extra junk will go away, not to mention the extra money pay off debt!

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  12. Molly I says…
    03/21/2008

    My message: PRESS ON.
    your post lit a fire under me, thanks.

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  13. Molly I says…
    03/21/2008

    html link didn't work. My 'press on' post is here:
    http://mollyirwin.typepad.com/mollysjournal/2008/03/when-you-feel-y.html

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  14. J's Pics says…
    03/21/2008

    Hey Ali!! We have moved twice in two years and the 'going though stuff' was a big eye opener. What do I really NEED? Even moving across country, I realized as I unpacked things that I really didn't even NEED everything I brought! The hardest though are those toys! Our son has Autism as well and you never know when you'll NEED that special toy that you thought he was finished with! :( The best thing I've learned through this whole thing is: put it away for awhile and when you 'rediscover it', THEN decide if you NEED it. It works with the toys too. You don't need to buy new ones as there is fabulous playtime in the ones that have just been brought out of storage! Have a great Easter weekend and time celebrating your Grandma's life.
    Janine

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  15. Erin says…
    03/21/2008

    My message for this weekend is to remember and to teach my children the true meaning of Easter. Not only is less more, but the truth is the only thing we need. Happy Easter! Erin :)

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  16. Suzanne says…
    03/21/2008

    LIVE the moments at hand... all that ordinary stuff...unpacking groceries, putting away laundry, making a meal.

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  17. Kim Bolyard says…
    03/21/2008

    love this idea...so doing this with my kids...love the idea of leaving notes to make someones day....brillant!!!
    peace
    KIM

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  18. Rebecca says…
    03/21/2008

    thank you.

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  19. Cinnibonbon says…
    03/21/2008

    I finally played along and did my weekend creative. Less is more is right! Thanks for the reminder.

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  20. Steph says…
    03/21/2008

    LOVE this!
    You, my dear Ali, are so great and inspirational.
    I don't have kids, but I keep looking at those mini Magna Doodles in the check out line at Target and thinking I should really get me one.
    Thank you for yet another weekend creative.

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  21. heatherle says…
    03/22/2008

    AH!!! I am just now weeding through our home and getting rid of a whole trunkload of stuff! Right this second when the computer called my name! Am am even getting rid of all those weird little tubes of cream from my holdiay stocking five and ten years ago that are hanging out because I can't stand to waste them! Instead, I end up dusting them, so off they go.

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  22. lenee says…
    03/22/2008

    thanks Ali, we are always trying to de-clutter around here! Spring is coming and the closets are calling. happy Easter.

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  23. Mandi says…
    03/23/2008

    I was so glad to see this... it gave me a good idea for this Easter. Here it is: http://candimandi.typepad.com/heres_lookin_at_me_kid/2008/03/more-than-bunni.html

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  24. Lu says…
    03/24/2008

    Hmmm, my message was: Be in the Moment. A challenge for me right now, but I am working on it.

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  25. Brigitte says…
    03/26/2008

    Hey ali !!
    Totally agree withyou there !!
    Less is definitely more... in our 'new world'.. we tend to think that we need more all the time !!
    Love your blog... will come back for inspiration for sure :)

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