Katie Orse

Paris inspiration

Lately I've been totally absorbed in all things French.

Music.

Food. 

Art.

Fashion.

Scrapbook.

What started this? Rummaging through my husband's old 

photos and finding several from when he was traveling

through France...on his bike. *laughing out loud*

These were photos from the 80's. And well... while I was

happily busy with life in middle school,

my future husband was

busy traveling Europe on his bike.

Photos of his adventure

remind me of Tour de France with lots of

80's flair (like hair, dolphin shorts, and tanned skin).

I was reminded of what carefree youth was like.

Freedom.

No worries.

No deadlines.

No responsibility for that matter.

He basically just picked up and went.

Like a Gypsy.

I would happily share photos but let me get his permission

first. (He's still thinking about it.)

Until then, here's a sample of music I've been

listening to while I sew and scrapbook.

Enjoy and Happy weekend!

 

La Fiancée - La Juré from HK Corp on Vimeo.

My Ebooks

100 Positive Journaling Prompts

 

$1.99

 

                               

 

    (Digital Download Only) 

            Are you looking for journaling inspiration?

I've got what you may be looking for.

These are 100 Positive Journaling Prompts that I use myself.

 My journals and art journals are filled using these inspirational prompts. They help give that extra creative boast you may need when you're in a "writing rut".

 

With this new creative goodie, you've got lots of fresh journaling prompts that focus on the positive side of things...things we need to emphasize in our life. Some of my prompts are reflective and some are just plain fun.

I feel that when we journal, we should always try to keep things we write positive. Even if life doesn't seem to be that way. It's okay, to write about your downs, but uplifting yourself is also very important. Important for your spiritual well-being.

You don't need to use these journaling prompts every day for journaling either. They can be used for those days that you may need an extra inspirational boast.

 

  Here's how it works:

When you purchase this digital download,

you'll receive 3 pdf files for you to open and download. You'll receive:

- 5 pages of journaling prompts

- 4 tags/labels for your jar

- 3 pages of Positive Words to use 

for your journaling,

and/or scrapbooking etc.

{Vintage jar not included in this purchase.}

 You can get some great finds in your local thrift store.

And if you don't have any in your local area, you can find them on Etsy and even on Ebay. Or use any jar or your favorite container. 

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

 

100 Positive Affirmations

Price: $1.99

Digital download

(4 pages)

These are positive affirmations that you will be able to print out and cut into small strips. Then place in your very own jar/container. Once a day, pull out a positive affirmation, read it to yourself three times. On the third  time, read it out loud so you can reaffirm with yourself.

                                  

 

Once I receive your payment, I will email you the files for you to enjoy! 

Start your Creative & Positive Journaling today!

 

Happy Journaling!

Hugs,

Katie

 

 

My positive word for the week: Bloom

I love words! Some of us love things and there is always a purpose to the reason behind it. For some of us who love words, it's because of our reflection for the love of reading. We grew up reading and perhaps one of our parents instilled this love of reading  
 for the written word and so on...

A N D

I love Sundays! My Sunday is spent at church and with family. I stay off the internet and don't answer emails or do business. Time spent in the real world. 

My Sundays are a day of rest. A day of REFLECTION. Love that word! I'm powered by it and it gets me off to a great start for the week. One of the ways I wanted to incorporate my two loves that I mentioned: words and Sundays is to write in my journal and share one single word for that week.

Sundays are a perfect time for me to think of my word. I may hear it from a speaker at my church, or a lesson from Sunday School, or may be even from one of the kids whose class I teach in Sunday School.

And that's how I came with my word for this week:

I want to really reflect on what this word may mean for me. I want to really put things in a positive perspective.

Maybe I'll inspirationally 'BLOOM' and finish this page in my art journal. That would be wonderful since I've been feeling like it lacks something. And that's been happening a lot. Maybe this was an inner voice that was speaking to me at church yesterday, and telling me to let myself go and BLOOM. Right now I find myself holding back on my work or second guessing myself. Has this happened to you?

 

So, I hope to inspire myself this week. Give myself a mental boast and see where it goes. We'll see... 

how am I going to

B L O O M  

 

What about you? What would your word be for this week?

 

Scrapbook Find + Vision Book + Media Art

My visit to TJMaxx was a score on a scrapbook find. Vintage 8x8 paper stack!

 

I'm totally in love! And when I saw these my eyes literally bugged out~ LITERALLY. I really like the graph paper style. These are going to be used in my Vision Book. What's a Vision Book you ask? It's my journal. Just thought I would give it a better name. Some of you may be the same but "journal" sounds boring *yawn*. 

Here's a sample of what my vision book looks like. It's the Becky Higgins' inspired fabric journal.

My vision book is just that. A tool that I use in my life. I write about life in general and business happenings. I also like to paint on it before I write or adhere anything. My favorite art substance is Gel Medium and Gesso. Play around with it. There are lots of Youtube videos on how to use them. {Thank goodness for Youtube right?}

Also, a Vision Book is completely different from my business binder. Don't get those mixed up. Vision books are suppose to inspire you personally. You don't even have to share it with anyone. Some of you might not want to...and that's okay. Business binder is for the daily ins and outs happening with your home business (if you have one).

So tell me what you think. Are you going to be creating a Vision Book for yourself? If you already have been following along with me this year, good for you!

*So proud* :)

I'll be back for another posting soon. Lots of fun things I'm creating for ALL of you!

 Handmade Journal Sleeves

 

New Journaling Prompts Added

How did you do with the last Journaling Prompts I shared with you?

Was it difficult or pretty easy? My hope is that you'll at least give it

a try and make it a habit to write in your journal.

Side story:

One of the best coping tools I had when my husband was deployed in Afghanistan was to write. I didn't have anyone to talk to but to my young children. But they didn't understand. They were only ages 2-5. The adult friends I had, well, I couldn't share with them. A lot of what my husband did was covert at the time and I had no one to really share those fears with.

So instead I wrote, and wrote, and wrote. Mostly to myself.

So here is my gift for you...

New Journaling Prompt #2 added under the FREE Stuff

links. I hope you'll download this and try out some more journaling.

This month's prompts are all about helping YOU, except for "Honor Someone's Memory". That prompt is suppose to help you reflect on the influence of another person.

We all have bad days but how we deal with them matters.

A BIG part of the healing process is to get it all out of

our system. Whether we talk with someone or not, OR just write it out; we

are doing something to get rid of the "junk" in us and heal.

Letting go is the hardest part, but once we do

we feel better about ourselves. Let me know what you think!

 

 Journaling Prompts #2

My quest for that one little word

Are you taking part in Ali Edward's Big Picture: One Little Word workshop? I am fretting about my word. Why? I LOVE MANY words! I love the power that words have on us. I can't choose one word or I can't make up my mind.

Yesterday I narrowed it down to 5 words:

A few of those words sound a bit cliche. I don't know. Maybe they really don't resonate with me...truly. Ali Edwards mentioned that the main word she chose has lots of little words to go with it. Aha! That was such a helpful relief. It may be that I am searching too hard and all those words I LOVE are just a part or link to my MAIN little word. Does that make sense? My One Little Word may just be right in front of me. This is not suppose to be stressful. But after reading all those who have already shared their word; well, it is. Mind you that this is the first time I have taken part in something like this, so it's going to be an experience. A journey that I want to try. 

So off I go to ponder, pray, and most of all do some soul searching for my one little word. Who knows? I may come up with my word while doing some house chores. I promise I'll be back to share it with you if you're interested.

 

{ It's time to say goodbye to Close To My Heart Scrapbooking }

Well, here we go...

I was holding back several times on this post. It's been a difficult decision to make, but I am leaving Close To My Heart. The scrapbooking company that I have represented for almost nine 1/2 years as an independent consultant & one of their top directors. I've been with them for a long time and if you read my bio, you'll learn how I started with them. 

This month in December should be my last month as a consultant. I will truly miss all my team members and fellow consultants. My CTMH family.  There are hundreds of women I work with and without them I would not be where I am today. Without them I would not have what I have today.  I've been in business with Close To My Heart for almost a decade! Can you imagine how hard it is to leave? I've reached all my goals with the company, and the BEST part of reaching those goals is the FRIENDSHIP I have made. I will never forget. There are so many wonderful memories!

Now some of you are going to ask me why the heck am I leaving. About a year ago I wrote in my journal about a dream. A dream of possibly starting my very own business. At the time I didn't really know. But I wanted to do something completely on my own and something I love. I've achieved several goals with Close To My Heart and it was time for me to set new challenges. At convention in Orlando, I felt like I was missing something. I felt like I needed to do more. When I reached Executive Director, after being with the company for five years, I thought maybe I could go further. But that wasn't what really made me happy. There was still something missing.

photo credit

So I went home and began to reflect on this. I prayed. I read a lot of different books. I talked to a few people who I admired. I tried to kick off this bad mojo I thought I was feeling. Could this be one of my mid-life crisis? Yikes! But you know what it was really?

It was F E A R.

Fear of failure. 

photo credit

And this is scary for me. I don't want to fail. I don't want to let my family down. I'm afraid I can't duplicate the same success I've had with my Close To My Heart business. I'm really a nobody. But I am a trier. I don't give up easily and I don't quit. I am perhaps the most stubborn-mule around when it comes to that. (My poor husband).

photo credit

One of my favorite business icons once said, "Keep moving forward." Remember him? That was Walt Disney. And he's right. I keep looking back into the past and that was holding me back. No more of that. I need to have more Courage. And I have to have more faith. 

photo credit

So, what's next after Close To My Heart then? Here's what I know so far. I have new fabric designed products. A good friend of mine is going to help with this launch sometime in mid-January. I am so grateful for her! There is also work that is going on with a manufacturer that I want to test the waters out with. I can't say what it is right now. But let's just say I'm learning all about patents, trademarks, and copyrights. THAT I have never learned about before! And last, I'm also working on my first nonfiction book. I'm excited for this one as well!

It's going to be an exciting New Year with new hopes, dreams, and goals. If my career with Close to My Heart was any indication of what the possibilities are, than I'm up for the new challenge! But most of all...I will be a happy person knowing that I at least tried to accomplish my goals, rather than looking back and regretting that I didn't take that leap of faith. Even if I fail, I tried.

Thanks so much for letting me share this with you! May you have Peace + Love + Happiness + Success! 

 

XOXO, Katie

Find joy in your journey! 

 

A day in my life...right now.

So much going on in my day that I have to remember to stop and reflect. I've been stressed a lot with deadlines, holiday sewing for my business, and also all the other things that come with kids. I try to take some time off and write in my journal, as well as picking up my knitting. 

I'm working on a scarf. Hopefully in time for it to get colder here in Northwest Florida. It's been cold at night, but then burns off into 75 degrees in the day. We expect to get snowbirds fleeing from the North to Florida soon as the holidays begin to pick up. But that's expected in our area. And speaking of writing that I mentioned...

Writing helps me unload my mind. I can't sleep if I have too much in my head. And sometimes I have ideas pop up from my brain that I need to grab a pen and write it down before I forget. Happen to you before? Most of the time I'm re-reading some of my favorite quotes and scripture references I made. That helps me reflect as well.

Knitting, on the other hand, allows me time to relax and not drown in writing. Since I'm taking part in Nanowrimo this month, it's been a struggle. This is my first year participating and since I already have other deadlines, why on earth would I add another one...just for fun? Ha! Silly me. I always look at the end result before jumping into anything. So, hopefully by the end of November, I'll have at least completed a FICTION manuscript and get to edit in December. This is my very first time writing fiction and let me share that it is so difficult for me! I'm used to business writing with data and research. This fiction stuff is all made up. You've got to have a good imagination for it. I envy authors like JK Rowlings or Stephanie Meyers for the stories they create.

But one of my dream goals is to be published in fiction. Dreams are what we are made of right? What you do with your dreams is another thing. Do you sit on your dreams and never make them into reality?

I'd rather attempt something, then regret not trying it. I don't want my life to be full of regrets. I think a lot of us are afraid of failing. But there is nothing wrong with failing. I think that separates the dreamers from the achievers. I hope you'll dream and achieve!

Thanks for letting me share my thoughts and dreams with you.

Hugs,

Katie XOXO

NaNoWriMo! Here we go!

November is going to be super busy for me! 

1. Participating in NaNoWriMo

2. Finish up designing (sewing) new book sleeve products

3. Evaluating current prototype book sleeve designs + feedbacks

4. Kids

5. Date night with hubby 

6. Work on Nonfiction manuscript + deadlines

7. Eat food

8.  Sleep

With all that listed out and said, my blogging will be limited this month. And since this is my first year participating in NaNoWriMo, I'm going to have to figure out what works and what doesn't. First, I'm not a morning person so I won't be jabbering at the computer keys that early. Learned that lesson a long time ago.

So far I've written 1,054 words. What I'm comfortable with is probably 1,000 words a day. If I keep up with that pace, I'll have written at least 30,000 words! Like I said, trial and error for me. Wish me luck!

Hmm? What am I writing you ask? Well, what I am willing to share with you is this:

* It's a Young Adult novel

* It's about an 18 year old girl

* And no it is NOT a paranormal love story. Probably lost a few readers already here after saying that.

But it's definitely a love story and with a happy ending. But you'll have to wait for more. Not ready to spill any of my beans on this one!

I do know one thing for sure. The journals I made especially for this month's writing and NaNoWriMo brainstorming is really paying off.

Look at how pretty they are sitting on my desk!

If you're participating in NaNoWriMo this month too, let me know! I'd love to know how you're doing. Good luck!

Hugs,

Katie XOXO