January DIY + Creative Business Book Club 2016

January DIY and Creative Business Book Club Selections from Dear Handmade Life

A few weeks ago on the last day of 2015 I read through my morning pages from the year. If you’re not familiar with morning pages it’s three pages of hand-written stream of consciousness writing that you do daily. Julia Cameron writes about morning pages in her book The Artist’s Way. The idea of these pages is to not think too much about what you’re writing but to not stop writing and eventually you’ll start gaining insight into your life. I’ve done morning pages several times in my life, usually when I’m feeling depressed, anxious, going through a transition or having a hard time with something. Over the past year I’ve been struggling with some personal and work issues in my life and trying to figure my next best step to being present, setting intentions and defining and achieving my goals. I’m always setting goals but the end of year is the time when I take a good hard look at the big picture. It’s pretty likely most of you did some goal setting on December 31st, right?

One of my goals was to read more. I’ve been a hardcore reader my whole life (as I explain in our very first DIY + Business Book Club blog post) but over the past few years I find that I’ll start several books but rarely finish any of them. In 2016 my goals is to actually finish at least six books. Six doesn’t seem like a lot but I wanted to make it realistic. If one of your goals for 2016 is to read, make or learn more… then check out the books below and join us every month for our book club where we share four or so titles that are inspiring our creativity and innovation in life, crafts and business.

To get you started on your 2016 reading we’re giving away 3 of these books: Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg, One Yard Wonders by Patricia Hoskins  and Collected by Fritz Karch & Rebecca Robertson . Check out the details below to enter the giveaway.

January Book Club Books:

1. Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg

2. One Yard Wonders by Patricia Hoskins

3. Collected by Fritz Karch & Rebecca Robertson

4. The Printmaking Bible: The Complete Guide to Materials and Techniques by Ann d’Arcy Hughes

-Nicole S.

The contest is now closed. Congrats to Heidi Johnson!

To enter the contest:

If you want to win 3 of these books Lean In, One Yard Wonders and Collected, just leave a comment on this post telling us about one of your goals or intentions for 2016. Post your comment by January 27th at midnight to be entered to win. Make sure to include your email address so we can get your address if you win and ship you some lovely things to read. Contest open to US residents only.

January DIY and Creative Business Book Club Selections from Dear Handmade Life January DIY and Creative Business Book Club Selections from Dear Handmade Life

 

38 Comments

  1. One of my goals/intentions is to define what leadership and being a leader in my business means to me. Soon we will have employees and doing what I do best plus managing other people is an edge for me – just out of my comfort zone. And one I’ve failed horribly at in the past. So I’d like to learn from that experience and start reading the resources to help me make better choices in the future.

    1. I bet that since you’ve had an experience of failure to learn from, you will be able to do a better job this time. Good luck with all your choices in this upcoming year.

  2. My goal/intention for this year in general is HEALTH. So I want to work on my physical health, eating better, exercising more, getting stronger, and also improving the health of my marriage and relationship with my husband. And also my mental/emotional health, taking better care of myself, making time for creating, reading, doing yoga, anything that feeds my soul. I read a comment on a website I frequent yesterday that I really loved: “I am of infinite worth, and I have an obligation to care for myself.”

  3. My main goal is more balance. Closing in on my first year of business I am trying to set better long term work habits. Like less work on weekends, more time for miscellaneous crafting, and more exercise. I’m learning that if I actually schedule downtime, craft time and workout time I see them as important as my work time.

  4. My large intention for this year is to do a significantly larger amount of large scale fiber/ creative installs in my immediate community. To be an active participant in creating more beauty and sharing more of myself through art within my city so that I can meet the desire/need to find myself more vulnerable and present on a local direct level as an artist.

  5. 2016 goal… Craft more!! Sure, trying to be healthier is one I always make but never accomplish so let’s be real this year because we all know it’s way easier make something with our hands than work out consistency and eat healthier. 😉

  6. One of my intentions for 2016 is sharing tools for recognizing and overcoming self-limiting beliefs in women + teens through workshops + 1:1’s. I’m an avid learner and love sharing in order raise vibrations! Thank you for sharing goodness!

  7. I had to clean out my childhood bedroom last weekend, so my goal is to organize and toss stuff so I just keep what’s important to me. (Thanks, Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up!) I also want to join the Creative Business Book Club.

  8. Ohhh!! My goal each ear is to read one book per month. But this year i’m going to step it up a bit and read books on life / business / self improvements instead my usual you g adult novels ?

    1. Good for you! I recently started listening to free downloaded audiobooks through an app via the local library. I’ve been able to get through quite a few more then in past years…and it makes mundane jobs like the dishes and folding laundry more enjoyable too!

  9. My goal for 2016 is to bake/cook more foods from scratch. This is with the intention of using local foods and what’s in the refrigerator so I’m not throwing spoiled food away.So far I’m making waffles that I freeze and reheat in the toaster, I’m trying to eat foods that are less processed.

  10. My word this year is “Centered”. I tend to focus on one or two things, and find I need more balance in my life. My main focus this year is my health and wealth, which I tend to ignore and just wing it. This year, I plan to be more intentional with regards to those areas along with more balance in other areas in my life.

  11. My two main goals for the year are: 1) to be healthy – physically and mentally because I really forget about my own needs some times; and 2) to follow my curiosities – it’s fine if I never find “a passion” but I want to continue to follow that which intrigues me.

  12. I have many goals this year but I too am looking to read more. Be it fiction, non-fiction, health books, instructional books, whatever…anything that I feel will benefit me and my family’s daily life and well-being. Also I want to get the creative juices flowing more often and grow in my library of knowledge. The idea of morning pages sounds fantastic. I’ll have to look into that further.

    1. I found that I get the most variety of reading choices when I’m involved in a book club, because other peoples picks keep me from getting stuck in my own rut of same old same old!

  13. I want/need to focus my creativity by choosing a few mediums. Sewing scarves for sale and collages especially cards also for sale and the meditative aspect. Thanks for the reminder to set some new goals and being realistic for successful completion.

  14. My goal for 2016 is to start an artist collective with a few fellow artists/crafters. Goals are to create a cohesive brand and then get to work creating and selling!

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