Product Description

Many people today are looking outside themselves for well-being and happiness when what they're searching for has been inside them all along." -- Sandra Magsamen

Living artfully is expressing who you are through the moments that you create. Living Artfully reminds us to explore and experience life with more heart, meaning, purpose, and joy. It asks us to imagine, to dream big, to believe in ourselves, to celebrate the people in our lives, make each day count, dance when the spirit moves us, laugh out loud, and let our voices be heard.

In this beautiful, life-changing book, acclaimed artist and entrepreneur Sandra Magsamen will transform everything you think you know about art, creativity, and personal fulfillment. And she'll show you that you've already got just what you need in your own two hands to create the life of joy and beauty that you want -- for yourself and others.

Living Artfully puts you in direct touch with your own imagination, where the only rule is there are no rules. Warm, encouraging, always good-humored, it is full of inspiring stories about people who pursue their own creative impulses and are rewarded with unexpected and delightful results. By following the ten principles of Living Artfully -- Magsamen's own dynamic process of creative thinking and being -- you will embark on an exciting personal journey of self-discovery. You'll learn how to connect with everyone in your life in inventive new ways, through everyday things, caring gestures, meaningful moments, and simple gifts that really make a difference. You'll also discover how, where, and when you can use your own creative language -- the images, words, sounds, foods, or crafts through which you most easily express yourself.

To Sandra Magsamen, Living Artfully is connection. It's the ultimate form of communication. It's recognizing and embracing your own powerful, creative abilities. And the first step on the journey to Living Artfully is to rediscover the gifts of imagination, curiosity, and playfulness -- gifts that you already possess. Each chapter presents a wealth of practical and fun ideas that you can tailor to suit your own circumstances and preferences and that will jump-start your imagination and free dormant or forgotten talents. By giving yourself permission to be yourself, you'll embark on a personal renaissance, connecting with your inherent sense of fun and optimism and discovering that even simple tasks of everyday life can become perfect, natural outlets for your newfound creativity.

Filled with Sandra's stunning, four-color, signature artwork, Living Artfully is not a how-to book but a why-to -- uplifting, motivational, and fun. It is also a guide into a new cultural movement in which people choose to live with a creative purpose, celebrating the people, places, and moments that make life truly meaningful.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1102475 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-10
• Format: Bargain Price
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 240 pages

From Publishers Weekly
This sweet little "why-to" (as opposed to "how-to") is full of homespun ideas for welcoming a new baby, cheering up a sick friend, and celebrating a birthday or a wedding or a new home. More importantly, artist and author Magsamen's book is designed to kick-start the creative process in an easy, everyday way, demonstrating the imagination's ability to provide strength and relief. For the most part, ideas are cheery, easily accomplished, and frivolously smile-inducing: "hang wind chimes from the nearest tree to your bedroom window," "knit a scarf," or "make Friday game night." Magsamen devotes the balance of the work to stories about neighbors and quotes from famous people that are equal parts inspiration and sentiment. Once in a while the author's suggestions sound precious or anachronous in a Martha Stewart way-suggesting a world in which moms cook daily breakfasts, maintain "sewing rooms" and have the time and money to "build a koi pond" in the garden. Still, the bountiful enthusiasm and goodwill in these pages make the book a charming self-help, with a real generosity of spirit.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
"Open this charming book on any page and you will find fresh ideas for making your life more satisfyingly creative and fulfilling. Sandra Magsamen's generous mind shines through her writing and seems to brighten one's whole world. This is a book to pick up every day for a refresher course in how to live a beautiful life."-- Betty Edwards, author of "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain"

About the Author
Sandra Magsamen is an internationally acclaimed artist and author who shares her meaningful messages and motifs through a widely popular range of books, ceramic gifts, cookware, stationery, home decor items, greeting cards, and calendars, all bearing her signature images and Messages from the Heart™. She lives in Maryland with her family.Visit the author at www.SandraMagsamen.com

Customer Reviews

Thank you for teaching me that I lead an "artful" life!
Earlier this week I was feeling a very big low in my creativity so I thought it would be the perfect time to read "Living Artfully", a book I've been wanting to spend some time with. You see, I always have dreamed of being an artist, but I have never really felt like I was one. Scrapbooking did help me realize I had a lot of creativity, and I have felt that even more since taking up digital scrapbooking and designing. But I wanted to be an "artist", someone who was inspiring and who made others want to create.

I couldn't wait to open this book and figure out how to finally achieve that. What I found is that I always have lead a very "artful life." I have a new definition of what it means to be an artist, and it turns out...I am one! This book is worth way more than the cover price just to figure that out!

Putting memories together in a meaningful way...that is "living artfully"

Creating celebrations for my family... that is "living artfully"

Preparing a meal for my family, organizing our belongings, having fun with my children... all of those things are "living artfully"

Typing blog entries...that is "living artfully"

Thank you Sandra Magsamen for helping me to realize that! And thank you for the book full of fun ideas to make my life even more "artful" and full of joy!

Katie the Scrapbook Lady

Enjoying Living Artfully

"I am definitely creating special cozy spot in my house for me to relax, sit
with my friends, read a book, learn to knit (finally I have been wanting to
do that for years). Sandra gave me a whole new way of looking at my life and
what living artfully as she says is all about. I would recommend this to
everyone."

Written from the heart
Living Artfully is a very gentle wake up call to appreciate those around you and to see life in loving and artful ways. Sandra stresses that you don't have to be an artist, or even perceive yourself as being creative to live life artfully.
The book is filled with suggestions of things to do and creative ways to show friends and family that you love them. Although it is hard to imagine actually doing most of them, it is great fun to read and think about the few that you might do and the meaningful result those actions will have.
The thing I loved about the book is Sandra's ability to reconnect to the joy of living, the the joy of play and laughter that generally exists in childhood and gets lost bit by bit as we get older. Sandra shares her stories and offers memory triggers to help recapture your youthful spirit.