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Your Invitation: Yoga & Art Retreat in Arizona

I have a really exciting invitation for YOU to reconnect with your body and your creativity at an intimate yoga & art retreat in Arizona’s breathtaking landscape.

 

The picture is me two years ago calling in the energy of the desert to help me co-create an expansive, inspired and connected painting retreat.

 

I was not sure of the how or when but I knew there was something bigger inside of me to share.

 

I’m so excited to collaborate with Kerry Burki this fall for the Tend & Create Retreat: a unique yoga and painting journey in the heart of Scottsdale, Arizona.

(Still pinching myself that this is happening.)

Tend & Create, September 26-28, 2025

Spend three days immersed in freedom-centered painting practices and gently guided yoga and meditation practices. Kerry and I take our practices seriously, but we don’t take ourselves seriously! We intend for this to be as FUN as it is nourishing!

Join us in the heart of Scottsdale’s art district from Friday, September 26th through Sunday, September 28 2025 at a special boutique hotel, Canopy Hilton in Old Town Scottsdale.

If there is someone you’d like to BE with in Arizona, bring them to our Tend & Create Retreat this fall.

Mothers bring daughters,
Friends bring friends,
Cousins bring cousins,
Grandmothers and granddaughters…

 

With mindful creative play and plenty of time to deepen relationships over delicious meals, late-night conversations or spontaneous laughter and dance parties, nothing beats an immersive retreat experience.

 

This soulful retreat includes:

  • A welcome bag full of goodies to support your journey
  • A Friday Meet & Greet + evening tasting
  •  Two full painting workshops led by Kristen, paired with meditations & mindful practices guided by Kerry
  • Morning yoga both Saturday & Sunday to gently awaken your body
  • After-hours studio time with a relaxing, mindful creative activity
  • We’ll gather for delicious food and lounge by the pool
  • A post-retreat integration call to carry the magic forward

 

Come as you are—leave refreshed, inspired, and more connected to your true self! No art or yoga experience is necessary. Get all the details & sign up here! 

Soul Musings / 0 comments

Be Your Own Sunshine

The theme for July in the Create More Community was “sunshine & happiness”.

 

Nadia led an inspiring chat and tutorial for us. Listening to everyone’s reflections on finding small joys even during tough times—and the beautiful art tutorial—were truly uplifting.

 

I chose to paint the phrase “Be your own sunshine”.

 

To me, it is all about creating your own happiness instead of waiting on other people or outside things to make you feel good.

 

One of the biggest things that keeps us from connecting with our creative joyful spirit is the way we think. And I think the second biggest thing might be the expectations we hold for the way things “should be”.

 

Have you heard the phrase – stop shoulding all over yourself? 

 

It refers to the habit of telling yourself you should be doing something:

  • “I should work out more.”

  • “I should be further along in my career.”

  • “I should be happier.”

This can extend to your environment and others too.

  • “They should have called me.”

  • “That last piece of cake should have been mine.”

  • “This evening should have been more fun.”

 

This kind of talk creates guilt, pressure, judgment and it’s often based on unrealistic expectations, scarcity mindset, or comparison. 

 

When you start to feel the word “should” creep up, take a pause and ask yourself what’s really important to me right now?

 

I suggest in addition you pick up a paintbrush or a pen or pull an oracle card or turn on some music and dance around your living room – or under the full moon and through the sprinklers as I did this month, hehe.

 

Allow yourself to redirect and put the power back in your hands. Make your creative soul VERY happy by being your own sunshine.

I enjoyed the process so much I ended up doing a second page in my sketchbook that says “hello sunshine”.

 

In addition to a monthly tutorial we create together, Nadia, Angela or I share a second video recorded that we call Creative Quickies.  For July, I shared how to make a radiant sun with collage papers, shown on the right. 

 

If you’re looking for empowering art making ideas and a supportive space to grow, I invite you to join our community. Together, we’ll explore ways to nurture your joy, creativity, and confidence—on your own terms.

Ready to shine brighter? Join us here!

Hurry, we are closing the doors on July 31st. 

Create More Community / Soul Musings / 0 comments

She Deck – DJ and Collage Night

I stepped out of my comfort zone for the last She Deck event before the deinstall and learned how to DJ with DJ JasperPunk of Ladies Who Brunch! Oh how I love to learn new things!

I went to this Tempe Art and Music event on my own and unsure who would be there. I was curious to check it out, meet some artists and make some art. It turned into a fun, friend-filled night with me running into old friends and making new ones too. What a fun surprise that was. 

Plus, I made a super cool intuitive collage on vinyl. I have been seeing the number sequence 1234 ALL THE TIME lately so, I had to include that! Taking one step at a time, I am on the right path moving forward. 

Exhibitions / 0 comments

She Deck – Opening Night Recap!

What an abundantly inspiring experience the She Deck Exhibit opening was! DJ Jasper Punk was a force spinning rad tunes all night!
 
Huge thank you to my friends who came out to support me and the artists in this show. You make me feel abundantly rich in love and laughter! Big love for you!
I love that my flowery deck SOLD opening night and will blossom in a new collectors home.
 
This painting is a tribute to the divine feminine — ever-growing, layered, and deeply rooted in resilience.
Through layers of paint and intuitive mark-making, the work embraces transformation. Surfaces are built up, sanded back, and painted again, revealing traces of what came before.
 
This process of adding and erasing showcases “grit” and speaks to resilience and the beauty found in imperfection.
 
The garden becomes a metaphor: lush, layered, and alive — a space that embraces both the soft, compassionate side and the strong, resilient side – a “place of allowing” where one is free to be themselves.
 
The show was a beautiful display of over 100 fem-forward art pieces by artists free to be themselves!

Special shoutout to Kyllan Maney for curating an amazing night full of art, music, skating and empowerment with Calamity Jean!

 
Huge thanks to the Tempe Art and Music Coalition crew and everyone that pitched in to make the night magical. Behind the scenes the artists community coming together for this event was a joy to witness.
Exhibitions / 0 comments

7 Days to Awaken Your Creative Spirit – Day 7: CREATE A TALISMAN

A talisman is anything whose presence exercises a remarkable or powerful influence on human feelings or actions.

A talisman can be used to summon your creative spirit to come out and play. Imagine having the ability to sit down and trigger inspiration, a talisman can help you do that!

 

Create a creative spirit talisman

 

It could be a rock, a feather, or maybe tiny canvas and easel that sits on your desk in your creative space. A small item that fits in a drawer, on your desk or in the palm of your hand are ideal.

 

If you believe in magic, you might say that you’re infusing the talisman with your creative energy. A more scientific explanation would be that you’re training your mind to associate the object with creativity, so whenever you engage the talisman, that creative energy is triggered.

Find a little rock and using paint markers or a black sharpie doodle a design. It could be a mandala like this one shown or you can simply a doodle a shape like a heart or flowers.

To make a mandala, start with a circle in the center. Create a few circle rings round the center, similar to a target. Then fill in the circle rings with repeating patterns of dots, lines, triangles, anything goes.

Did you find a feather on one of your wander & explore adventures? Wash it in soapy water, let it dry and then have fun painting it! Most craft and hobby stores have feathers available for purchase as well. You can use inexpensive acrylic craft paint and brushes. Choose colors that inspire you and simply paint lines, polka dots or maybe blend two or three colors together.

One last idea is to make yourself some talisman jewelry! I love beading and painting and in this video tutorial I share both! Learn tips and ideas for painting a wooden laser cut pendant from Allegory Gallery and stringing a two strand necklace with beads, beading wire and tools from Soft Flex Company. We may have chatted about rabbit symbolism too! You can use symbols or the healing properties of gemstone beads to personalize your jewelry talisman.

Look at, hold or wear your talisman whenever you’re feeling stuck and need to call in your creative spirit energy for inspiration!

7 Days to Awaken Your Creative Spirit / 0 comments

7 Days to Awaken Your Creative Spirit – Day 6: SOUL SCRIBBLES

Creativity is extremely important to me because it let’s me bring my truth into the world. 

IT’S WHERE I GO TO FIND MYSELF.

It gives me a chance to heal and inspire others. It brings out ideas I can use in my business and life. And when I’m creative, I am a fulfilled and happier human which improves my relationships. Being creative is an act of self-love and acceptance. 


Why is creativity important to you?

Find your answers to remind you why you want to make time to create. With a daily creative practice you will find your life is filled with more JOY and more of YOU. We all worry that we are not “good enough” to exercise our creativity.  But the truth is, we are all born creative, you may have just lost your way. Let’s take back that truth.

A soul scribble is like looking for pictures in the clouds.

This is a really fun quick exercise any one can do! I have been amazed at the messages that show up. If you are feeling stuck this is a quick way to get out of your own way and get ideas flowing again.

Create a soul scribble

All you do is a quick 3 second “scribble/swoosh” with your pen, pencil or marker, and then see what comes to mind.

Put your maker on the paper, close your eyes, and 1-2-3,

LIFT your pen or pencil up.

Open your eyes. What do you see?

Turn your paper 90 degrees and then again until you see something. Then fill in that picture a bit more clearly. You can add more lines and details to finish it.

Write down the first THREE to FIVE words that come to mind. Allow those five words to start a train of thought, your musings, that you capture in your journal. What does it all make you think of? Write that!

If you saw something specific like an animal or symbol, search online and see what meaning that brings you. Write down the meanings that speak to you.

I created these two soul scribbles close to one another, do you see how “patience” showed up as a meaning of each of these two very different symbols that arrived? They were sending me a message that things come in their own time and at their own pace.

 

What messages do your soul scribbles have for you?!

7 Days to Awaken Your Creative Spirit / 0 comments

7 Days to Awaken Your Creative Spirit – Day 5: INTUITIVE FLOW COLLAGE

Intuition is a way of knowing without thinking.

It comes from a much deeper place than the thoughts that we all use most of the time. When we connect with intuition and choose to be guided by it, our life enters a process of change from suffering to joy. It is a way to heal and a way to grow at the same time.

Cut and paste an intuitive dream collage.

You will need a few magazines, glue and a piece of cardboard, paper or journal to create your collage on. If you have a cereal box or similar item in your pantry you can use that as the backing.

 

Flip through the magazine pages and cut out anything that catches your eye. If you are drawn to an image, a word, a saying, a color, anything – cut it out. Do not analyze it or make any judgement about it. Just flip and cut. Do this for until you feel you have enough material to work with for your background.

 

Now, lay out all the cuttings and give them a good look over and seek out any common threads and begin to arrange them, trim up the images and start gluing them into your cardboard, paper or journal. STEP BY STEP you create the change and strengthen your right brain’s intuitive power!

Here are two small intuitive dream collages in my journal. On the left, I saw my desires for share transformative art making with others and on the right I found common threads of balancing life and accepting how I look at a time when I was feeling pretty down about my appearance.

I created this intuitive dream collage at a time when I was I stuck in a deep lack mindset and struggling financially. The images that arrived showed me that I yearned for security, to figure out the puzzle of money in life and to LOVE money in a way I never did before. It brought me to the realization that my feeling around money were very far from love and that I may have been inadvertently pushing it away all this time.

After creating this collage I flipped to the back and wrote this message to remind me of all that I have, give thanks and invite more money into my life. It was a powerful shift in how I thought about my money matters and how much I needed to heal this part of me.

 

If you see a clear message arrive in your collage I encourage you to think about how you can craft a message of hope and healing for your dream and write that next to it or on the backside like I did here.

7 Days to Awaken Your Creative Spirit / 0 comments

7 Days to Awaken Your Creative Spirit – Day 4: COLOR YOURSELF HAPPY

Color is powerful.

The colors you choose may effect your mood or evoke strong memories or feelings. The act of coloring relaxes a busy mind.

 

Coloring is meditation in action. Just like meditation, coloring also allows us to switch off our brains from other thoughts and focus only on the moment, helping to alleviate free-floating anxiety. Coloring offers that relief and mindfulness without the fear of the blank page. You just choose how to fill it in.

Slow down and enjoy coloring a page I created for you. Pick up some colored pencils, markers or crayons and get lost in the process.

7 Days to Awaken Your Creative Spirit / 0 comments

7 Days to Awaken Your Creative Spirit – Day 3: MAKE TIME TO PLAY

The ability to play is a direct connection to your creative spirit.

Adulting is hard. All work and no play make for a very dull human. For me, it also makes for a very cranky one too. At the heart of my personal creative practice is play. Give yourself permission to play. Allow yourself to be a beginner. Being curious and trying new things is fun!

Create a Natural Mandala

Look for twigs, leaves, flowers around your yard. If you made a backyard bouquet yesterday you can use the petals or leaves from those flowers or find some items items around your house like some fruits and veggies.

 

Remove individual petals and leaves from the stems and separate each type into their own little pile. Start with a center flower and grow your mandala pattern from the center out.

Song “Be Yourself” by Peruquois

Turn up the music and dance or sing!

I love to turn up the music and sing when I’m in the car. Sometimes, when I am alone I can really belt it out. It doesn’t matter if you know all the words or how awful you may think you sound, singing with abandon can be so playful!

I love to dance too. It’s a sad story really how the opportunity to get out and dance as you grow older diminishes. I say, turn up the tunes and create your own dance party. It can be completely ridiculous and in fact, if it makes you laugh at yourself and your goofiness even better.

7 Days to Awaken Your Creative Spirit / 0 comments

7 Days to Awaken Your Creative Spirit – Day 2: WANDER AND EXPLORE

Notice the beauty that surrounds.

Take a walk with fresh eyes.

Walk around your neighborhood, your backyard or a local farmers market. Bring a camera or a journal along. Pause, look and notice. Find things that make you smile, photograph them, draw them, use them in a story or simply delight in the reminder that you are part of a bigger whole.

What animals, sights and sounds caught your attention when you wandered and explored today?

 Could those things be holding a special message for you? Being present and open to the messages around you brings a sense of magic and wonder to your world!

LADYBUG SYMBOLISM

The appearance of a Ladybug heralds a time of luck in which our wishes begin to be fulfilled. Higher goals and new heights are now possible. Worries begin to dissipate. New happiness comes about. This insect also cautions not to try to hard or go to fast to fulfill our dreams. Let things flow at their natural pace. In the due course of time, our wishes will all come true. Alternatively she could be signalling that you can leave your worries behind and that new happiness is on its way. This species of beetle signals you to to not be scared to live your own truth. Protect your truth and know that it is yours to honor.

Create a "Backyard Bouquet"

If you have some flowers on your property or are someplace where you can pick a few flowers, do it! Look for fallen twigs and stems that you can bring home too. Then, create what I like to call a “Backyard Bouquet”. The bouquet below is made from flowers in my yard, nontraditional bouquet flowers, but still beautiful to enjoy!

7 Days to Awaken Your Creative Spirit / 0 comments