Lori Portka

I have some extra calendars and it is time to get them out and into the world!  So my holiday gift to you- Buy One Get One Free Calendars.  

While I am at it, I decided I would add Prints and Posters to the mix!  Buy one as a gift and get one for yourself.

Calendars:  Get one free with every one you buy. Automatically!

Prints and Posters:  Buy one and write the title of your FREE second print/poster in the “note to loriportka” box as you check out.

How Long’s the Deal?  Monday and Tuesday only, December 10-11.  

Thank you lovelies!  I hope the season is treating you well.  I hope you are not overwhelmed.  I hope you are finding time for hot chocolate and twinkling lights.  With Much Love, Lori

Just wanted to say Helloooo.  I am deep into packing and shipping these days with a very grateful heart.  Hope all is well in your worlds.  xoxo

Here they sleep all day in my studio.  Sweethearts.

I’ve always been a Rule Follower.  (Unlike my husband who is a Rule Breaker.)  But this time, I thought, What the heck.  

Use Code GRATEFUL as you check out through Wednesday, November 28th at Midnight PST and get 20% off your entire order.

20% off 6 Soulful Gifts!

1.  A Year of Love 2013 Calendar made my Lisa Sarick and me.

“Your 2013 calendar arrived today and opening it was like a blast of beautiful Light. Thank you for your gorgeous art.” -Belinda Davidson 

Includes:12 art prints, cut out cards + a free prayer poster, written by Lisa Sarick, to add to the love.

 2.  Be Beautiful Bangles are back!

The original set of bangles I made recently sold out in two days, so I decided to make another limited edition set just for the holidays.

 3.  New Card Collections

My Yoga Card Sets -1 and -2 are two of the best selling items in my shop. So, I thought…why not make more card collections? So I did, and here they are-

• Because People are Beautiful
• Compassionate Cows
• For Your Girlfriends
• For Your Love
• Grateful for You
• Oh Deer!
• Send Love
• Sweet Wishes #1
• Sweet Wishes #2
• Yoga Card Set #3

4.  Prayer Flags

Good wishes to brighten up every room.

May you wake with GRATITUDE 
May you see BEAUTY every day 
May you GLOW with HAPPINESS 
May you know you are LOVED 
May you know you are WORTHY 
May you sleep deeply and PEACEFULLY

5.  Prints and Posters

Special pricing is available when you orderprint bundles of 3 or 4!

6.  A Month of Thank Yous : Gratitude Pack

This is really a gift that keeps giving and spreading gratitude out and into the world.

Included in the Pack:

• Gratitude Guide (quick hints for using your kit)
• 3-each of 10-prints of paintings from the Hundred Thank Yous gratitude project
• Printed on card stock (5×6) with archival inks (perfect for mailing and framing)
• 10-custom designed postage stamps with my art titled, Blowing Gratitude Kisses (for mailing with extra love)

I also have Gratitude Packs without stamps.

The energy of gratitude is real; it grows and expands, gathering more and more good with it. Gratitude pulls you into the now. Gratitude uplifts. Gratitude is the most beautiful prayer there is.

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Use Code GRATEFUL as you check out through Wednesday, November 28th at Midnight PST and get 20% off your entire order.  Yaaay!

 I am so grateful for all of you, for your support this year, for all of your kind words. I wish you ease and simplicity this holiday season.  Cheers to you!

I am writing this still snuggled in my bed drinking Yerba Mate.  It is snowing big fluffy snowflakes outside.  It’s dark and kind of pretty and peaceful this morning

I’m happy.  Today is a great day because my Year of Thank Yous Gratitude Pack is part of Kris Carr’s Holiday Guide (And I LOVE her, so it is such an honor!)

She lists suggestions for keeping it together during the hectic holiday season + a sweet gift buying guide.  I’ll take one of everything!

I’m giving a 20% discount to Kris Carr friends who visit my etsy shop – You can use the code too!  Type in GRATEFUL in the code box as you check out for a discount on your order.

And I am way ahead of the game (even though I am a day behind)- Cyber Monday for my shop is actually going to be on Tuesday to give everyone a chance to breath.  The newsletter is written and ready to go- if you want to be a part of the discounts offered, sign up on my blog on the right-hand side.  Yay!

If you don’t already have it, this (New York Times Best Selling) cookbook has become the only cookbook I am using from Kris Carr and Chef Chad Sarno.  I love love looooooove it.

 And to add to the love, I wanted to share my dear friend, Liv Lane’s newest creation!

There are many designs to choose from and each has three different heart magnets to switch up your necklace- artwork designed by Liv.  I’ve already ordered mine!  Such good energy- a meaningful gift.  And so pretty!

She also made a sweet holiday guide- The Holiday Bliss List Gift List – where I will take one of everything, please. 

I hope you are having a great start to your week after a long Thanksgiving weekend. xoxo

What’s Real with Rachel Awes from Lori Portka on Vimeo.

I am so happy about this interview with my artist/writer/psychologist friend, Rachel Awes! Rachel has a new book she wrote and illustrated titled All I Did Was Listen. Her book combines anonymous quotes from her psychotherapy clients with illustrations + written reflections from Rachel that tell a story everyone can relate to and feel as part of their own story- filled with messy bits and beauty.  I read it with tears and goosebumps and my hand on my heart almost the entire way through.  

In this interview, Rachel shares the inspiration for her book, how she pushed through feelings of doubt and fear during the 4 years it took to create, and how it feels to have her book endorsed by SARK (and Kelly Rae Roberts)!

squeeeeeeze!

I am one of the lucky few to have read the prototype of her book before it went to press and loved it so much that I ordered 5 of them to give as gifts.  You can buy it as one or a girlfriend pack of 5 (includes 5 of Rachel’s greeting cards and 5 bookmarks) for the holidays. 

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Side note about what it is like inside my head:  So, you guys.  I did this video with Rachel weeks ago, and I couldn’t get it to upload and I stressed and called the apple store and stressed some more and tried again and went to the apple store and gave up and freaked out and tried again and yesterday my husband swooped in like an angel and fixed it with one setting, in one second.  And I learned a lot.  About letting go, surrendering, trusting right timing and remembering to ask the angels for help.  Yes.

 

 

It’s here!  A Year of Love- 2013 Calendar

I am so happy with this calendar (…it’s really more than just a calendar.) We kept everything you loved about last year’s calendar PLUS we made upgrades and added a free poster! The biggest upgrade is the size – increased to 12×18. There is pure love and vibrant color pouring out of the pages each month.

Here is a short video where Lisa Sarick and I share this calendar’s sweet theme and show you all the other goodies that go with it!

2013 A Year of Love from lisa sarick on Vimeo.

A Year of Love Calendar includes 12 months of my artwork and loving thoughts to hold each month.  Plus a dozen cards all about lifting the love each month. And there’s more!

We included a FREE poster with A Year of Love.  It is so sweet- a painting from me paired with a Prayer to Love written by Lisa Sarick.  I love this poster!

The Year of Love 2013 Calendar includes:

• A cover sheet explaining this years theme and how to use the calendar
• 12 art prints size 11×12.5 on 12×18 paper
• 12 loving messages each month with folding cut-out cards to keep or give away
• A beautiful and inspiring prayer poster with a Prayer to Love written by Lisa Sarick and illustrated by me (I love this poster!)

The calendar is bound with a pretty ribbon and protected by a clear cello sleeve.

Last year, this year.

A Year of Love  begins in January with us loving ourselves first, and then spilling that love into the world around us.

May the love flow.  May it touch us all.  May it bless the world.  xoxo

PS:  Look for special pricing when you order multiples of 2 or 5!

It’s almost here!  

A Year of Love- 2013 Calendar made with my friend Lisa Sarick, and me.  

I am so excited to get this calendar out into the world!

In a moment of honesty, I realized that I am so grateful to have been working on this Year of Love Calendar over the past few weeks.  Hurricane Sandy hit close to home for me (I live in Upstate NY) and I’ve been worried about my friends who live near the coast and have been without electricity.  I’m worried about the rising sea level, the cold weather and how people are getting by with their homes destroyed.  

So this calendar, A Year to Love is especially close to my heart.  I’m grateful that it is love we are putting out into the world when it’s really needed.  And in addition, I am giving some of the proceeds of this calendar to the Red Cross for the #Sandy relief effort.

2013.  A Year of Love.  Coming Thursday.

*SO much bigger and brighter than our 2012 calendar.  Seriously, wow!

*Includes a beautiful FREE poster with a prayer from Lisa and an illustration from me

*PLUS folding cards to keep or give away- messages of love, each month

I can’t wait to show you on Thursday!  xoxo

I received this postcard in the mail and it shocked me for a second.  

It was a post card from my gratitude kit, A Month of Thank Yous, sent to me from my friend, Corinne.  

How exciting!  I never thought about someone sending a post card to me.  If I had any lingering doubts about how transformative gratitude is, they are gone now.  My focus through my entire gratitude project has been on bringing more gratitude into my life.

When I created the kit it, I made if for the BUYER to feel the changes a month of gratitude brings.  Truthfully, I didn’t really think too much about the receivers of the postcards.

Until now.

It is so incredibly sweet to get a handwritten postcard in the mail!  There was an indescribable feeling of connection that I felt throughout my Hundred Thank Yous project that I felt again when I received this post card.  It pulled me out of my head and into my heart.  It brought my attention back to what matters.

My friend, Alia, also send me a postcard from Bali.  I teared up when I read it.  

So often the mail consists of bills and advertisements.  

Nice to get a little love instead.

PS: The New 2013 calendar – A Year of Love, is being printed as I type this!  It is another collaboration with my dear friend, Lisa Sarick, and I am not shy to tell you that it is beautiful.  The actual calendar is beautiful (much bigger than last year, includes “Up the Love” cards + a FREE poster with new artwork!)  I could jump up and down with excitement.  

If you are not already on my mailing list, sign up on the right hand side to receive the Special Offer when the Year of Love Calendar is released next week!

AND, the Be Beautiful Bangles were such a big hit (quickly sold out!!) that I ordered more and will start painting them this weekend.  Yippee!  

Something new is in the shop!  I am so excited about these cheerful hand-painted Be Beautiful Bangles.  Each bangle is one of a kind.  I only made 17 of them so get them while you can!  I am not sure I am going to continue to make these little lovelies.

Those of you who follow my blog know that this past spring I finished a gratitude project where I made 100 paintings for 100 people.  I have grown and stretched myself as an artist.  

Recently, on my artist retreat on the shore of Lake Superior, I tried a few new creative projects like painting wooden bangles (Thank you Jen!).  It was so different from anything I have done before and so fun to be painting on something other than canvas.  I loved it so much that when I got home I ordered more.  

Each bangle has it’s own color story.  I added a bright and contrasting color for the inside and stamped the words *You are Beautiful* as a reminder of that truth to wear throughout the day.  

My friend, Aimee said that my bangles reminded her of Anthropologie!  That made my day!  She said she could see a collection of them hanging on twine.  

As always, I poured tons of love and happiness into them.  I believe that hand-made items created in a loving space continue to carry that energy.  It is my intention that the bangles create beauty and brightness in the day of the wearer.

 Yay!  Be Beautiful!

“Because truth telling takes away the power the story has over you.”     -Jenny Graham

My beautiful business doula, Jenny Graham, shared her heart over on Heather’s blog, Vital Being Wellness.  Jenny told her story about loss and healing and it made me cry.  I love brave-hearted women warriors.  It is through sharing our truth that we heal and we help to heal others.

I have a new cover for my gratitude kit!  I am so happy about it.  I wanted to get the gratitude kit out into the world at the time of my art opening in June even thought I wanted the cover to be prettier. With everything else I had to do for the show, the cover took a back seat.  I learned a lot from just “getting it out there” even if it didn’t feel absolutely perfect to me.  I think in the past I would not release a new project until it was “perfect” in my mind- which often meant it never got released at all.  What I realize now is that I am always learning and growing… things evolve and become better.  This is all good.

Here is a new poster in my shop and lots more coming soon including *new* Bangles (squeeeeeeal!) on  Monday!

I made this painting for my husband’s niece who just got the best teaching job ever in a charter school in Rochester.  For inspiration, she gave me a list of sayings her school uses to motivate the girls.

When I first saw “Be loud, be proud,” I wasn’t sure how I felt about it.  I get the Be Proud part, but Be Loud?  Really?

Oh, right.  Of course.  The whole idea of Being Loud conflicts with how I was raised to be a quiet, Nice Girl.  Quite, nice,  non-confrontational, respectful.  Best to be seen and not heard.  Blend in the background. Do not speak up.

At 43 I still struggle at times with finding my voice.  I still stay quiet when I have to much to contribute. I have opinions and beliefs and feelings that I often keep to myself, to keep the peace.    

I am a Peacemaker for certain.  I’m introverted.  I’m deeply compassionate.  Being Loud kind of goes against the grain of my being.  

But what if I was taught to Be Loud and Proud instead of quiet and nice?  

I’ll never know the answer to that question and I cannot go back and change the past.  So speaking out, worrying less about what others may think, being true to myself…this is all part of my work now.  

I like  the 40′s.  Being loud and proud isn’t always easy for me. But, these days I’m feeling a lot better in my own skin, just as I am.

The photo shown above of Rachel’s book is from an initial prototype…a real photo of the book will be included in her Etsy shop once the book comes out on December 1, 2012.

My dear friend, Rachel Awes, has a new book, All I Did Was Listen, available for pre-order.

I almost hardly know where to begin to explain my experience with reading the prototype of her book on our artist’s retreat in Minnesota.  Picture Rachel and I sitting on her couch, snuggled under blankets.  I hold the book in my hands and start pouring through the pages.  

I know all the hard work and years (and blood sweat and tears!) it has taken for Rachel to put this book together.  I knew it was going to be remarkable and lovely, but honestly, it blew me away.  Rachel is a gifted writer and her words cut straight to the  heart of it all.  

I believe that everyone has the basic need to be seen and be heard.  One of the most beautiful things about Rachel is her ability to listen and care.  I mean, she really hears you, so much that when you have a conversation with her, the rest of the world fades in the background.  Her gift of seeing and hearing comes through so strongly in All I Did Was Listen.  It is deeply relatable, speaking about universal experiences in such a sweet and loving way.  

Rachel Awes holding a piece of her artwork.

Ahhhh.  I’m still basking in the glow of the art retreat I just returned from earlier this week.  I’ve been writing this post in my head for days.  It is hard to know exactly where to start.  

It was joyful and magical.  

I think something happens when a group of women get together in love and support of each other.  Women are powerful.  We share stories that matter and we really hear each other.  

We feel heard and loved.  And healing happens.  Energy is raised and we are lifted higher.  

After a weekend like I just had in the presence of remarkable women, I believe that because of them, my own magnificence peeks out a little more.   We all shine a little brighter.

Love and friendship matter.

Feeling flooded with gratitude is the best feeling ever.  Thank you Rachel, Carissa, Liv, Aimee, and Jen.  I love you girls.

All I Did Was Listen- Rachel Awes

Carissa Paige

Liv Lane

Artsyville- Aimee Dolch

Painted Fish Studio- Jen Shaffer

Tomorrow I leave for the shore of Lake Superior in Minnesota to the sweetest cabin ever with 5 beautiful (inside and out) women.  It is supposed to be pretty chilly so the plan is this: cozy girl talk, hours of creating art, laughing, sharing, reading, singing, cooking, mochas…bliss.  

It is like green juice for my soul.

We met two years ago for the first time in the same place.  Prior to that we had only known each other on-line via our blogs.  

When I came back home after the last trip, I felt a shift in my life.  Clearer direction, more confidence. I felt supported in a way that made a difference to my creative business.  

So today is the typical running around, cleaning, organizing, busy day that happens before leaving town.  In this moment, I feel like there is a lot to do, but I’m buzzing around with a happy heart.  Grateful.

My wish for you this weekend is a calm presence in your own heart, regardless of the circumstances around you.  This is something that is often really hard for me to do but I have been able to (a few times) find the calm center inside me during the storm…if I can just remember to breathe.  Much love, Lori

On the first day of my vacation last week, I banged my foot on a big iron patio chair as I was running to take a picture of the glorious view.  We had just arrived at our adorable cottage and I was nearly crying from the beauty of the flowers and the cuteness of the cottage. Then I saw the mountain view and my heart could have burst.

Without thinking, I flipped off my sandals, ran forward, iPhone in my hand and said, “Oh my God, I love Ashland.”

BAM! PAIN! 

Limping.  Limping. 

I looked down at my toe and it was at least a half-inch separated from the toe next to it.   My foot swelled up and turned black and blue.  It hurt to walk.  

Let me be clear- as injuries go, this is a mild one, I know.  I know.  I don’t want this post to sound dramatic or sob-storyish. 

But, this was significant to me for several reasons.  First, we had just arrived to our vacation spot- we literally checked in less than 5-minutes before this happened.  Second, a big part of our vacation plans were centered around hiking everyday in the amazing Oregon mountains, but now all hiking plans were out- I couldn’t get my foot in a sneaker.  And third, we had been thinking seriously about a possible move to Ashland, Oregon.  I obsessively wondered, what did it mean that just as I was saying how much I loved it there, I banged my foot so hard that I could barely enjoy it?  

There was a little cloud over the trip from that point on.  I mean really, overall, it was fine.  We still had a great time and I could walk around, just more slowly.  And each day my foot felt a little better.  There were other unexpected things that happened that are too much to share here.  It is just that our wonderful vacation didn’t unfold as we had planned.  

I found myself having to let go of how I wanted our trip to be different -over and over again. 

On the fourth day in Oregon, we met with the beautiful Jodi Chapman and her kind-hearted husband, Dan.  We adored them the minute we met.  I knew Jodi on-line so it was a JOY to finally meet her in person.  We talked and talked and talked to each other like the four of us have been friends forever.  (I think our souls have been friends a long time!)

Jay and I told them about the unfortunate things that happened that changed how we spent our time in Ashland.  They talked to us about this idea:

Sometimes people have a “happiness ceiling” that is only as high as we think we deserve; and often when we are close to experiencing something that would really push us through our self-imposed happiness limit, we unconsciously sabotage it.  They said they knew about this because they had experienced it.

Were we doing that?  All I can say is that it felt like truth to both Jay and I.

Something shifted for us after spending the afternoon with Jodi and Dan.   Gratitude came in and replaced some of the confusion and frustration we were feeling.

I don’t have any answers for any of this at the moment.  But, like many things in life, I do believe there are lessons for me in our vacation experience.

A lesson in letting go of expectations.

A lesson in allowing the fullest extent of joy into my life. 

 A lesson in remembering that everything that happens is unfolding exactly as it should for my highest good, even when it doesn’t feel that way.

A reminder that joy is an inside job and not dependent on outside circumstances.

A reminder to accept that unexpected things happen and to start over with Plan B.

A newfound sense of gratitude for my feet.  My beautiful, strong and wonderful feet.

Note:  This idea of a happiness ceiling (he calls it an upper limit problem) is from Gay Hendrick’s book, The Big Leap.  I am going to buy it!