Bowdenisms: Chalk Art Christmas & Showing your real

Some of my favorite things:
chalk art
instagram
Advent (well...any sort of festive countdown, really)

So naturally, this year I thought it would be fun to do a project that combines those things. Since December 1st, I have been posting a daily picture of a holiday saying, rendered in chalk. I knew in the beginning it might be tough. I'm not a professional chalk artist by any stretch. In fact, my regular handwriting isn't even that good. But I love looking at typography, and thought it would be fun to try my hand at making my own. Here's some of "my work":

My first attempt (top left corner) was a bit...um...novice? But after working on it every day for over two weeks, I'm actually proud of the progress I've made (getting a chalk pen didn't hurt. Turns out having the right tools helps a lot). The above collage isn't in order, I just mixed them up to make it look balanced...But I'm having fun trying different approaches, recreating pieces I've seen and admired, and making up my own style. I try to make each day's message fit in with something we're doing to that day, so it in the end it will also serve as an abstract scrapbook of our advent season. (Fa la la was from the day of our Christmas party, ho ho ho was when we took Piper to meet Santa, and baby it's cold outside was from the first truly frigid day we've had...)

So if you're not already following along, fear not- we have over a week left to go...There's plenty more art in store. And though you can always see our most recent instagrams on the side bar, I want to encourage you to join instagram if you haven't already. It has quickly become by favorite spot on the web. I love the chance to see snaps of people's every day lives, along with a sweet caption or witty hashtag. It's easy to keep up with, and I find myself actually connecting with these people...maintaining (or forming!) friendships, staying connected, offering encouragement. It's a lot more than just square pictures with pretty filters. It's a community.

And on that note, I've started another little project that I really do hope you'll like. It started when I posted about being real with each other. All the way real. Answering the questions and showing the details that usually get glossed over. I wanted to keep pulling back that artificial curtain that blogs and social media often promote, and show what "real" looks like. My real. Your real. So I started posting pics of the behind the scenes stuff that is actual life. Sometimes it's messy. Sometimes it's beautiful. A lot of times it's both. I'd be thrilled if you would join in: Snap a pic of your real, and tag it for others to see, learn from, and be encouraged by. #showyourreal