Another Piece of the Puzzle

As I struggle with my lose of interest in the creative world I have discovered a few things and I wanted to share with you, my latest piece of the puzzle. I want to start by saying I've always been environmentally aware and I've always had an issue with chemicals. The way our world has become over processed in more ways then one seems to know is my biggest concern.

I was semi-green before green was the "in" thing. I knew the risks and dangers but felt there was little I could do to "save the world" or even protect myself. After having children I became more aware and more determined to make this world a better and safer place for my children and future generations.

Do you know how toxic to us and the environment our art supplies are? I think that's one reason why I've never made a major purchase, just picking up a few things to get by here and there. Subconsciously I knew I didn't want to be working with this stuff but still I had the desire to create and that is what I did.

This past year I've really become more active and more concerned and now believe that I can make a difference and that I can help others to make a better choice for ourselves and for mother earth.

I've honestly had the desire to create recycled art for sometime now and have collected many things in my journey that I can not bring myself to throw away. So what am I saying here? What is this piece of the puzzle?

Maybe I'm holding myself back because I know I don't want to harm myself, my family or the environment with my art?

Today I came across this site: Crafting a Green World and it hit me, this was my answer, or at least a big piece of the puzzle. Now I know I'm not alone, I know there are alternatives and I can create safe art, yes!

Does this mean I'm throwing everything I have away, all my suplies? No because it would just end up in the landfill where it will continue to harm our environment. I will use the supplies that I have but from this point forward I will not buy any more toxic art supplies. And that is my gift to myself, to my family and to our world.

What a sense of relief to know I do have a choice, I do have options and I *can* make a difference!

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On a side note, I have not started the Soul Journal yet as I have not been able to locate a journal to use. However I do have an unused pad of watercolor paper that I think I can do something with. After all the journal isn't for you all, its for my own personal growth, so if its not a traditional journal that's fine by me. I hope to get started this weekend.

:)

The Party's Over

The party's over
It's time to call it a day ...

Yup that's right this party is over. What party you ask? Well my great big pity party, my I'm not good enough party, my ... well you get the picture party. Its a known fact I've been down in the dumps, stressed out on life and I lost my desire to do anything creative when I know it was the one thing that helped me to deal with stuff. It was something I did for me!

After alot of thought and the suggestion of a friend I've decided to do a Soul Journal because it will not only help me explore my creative side it will also help me explore my true feelings and hopefully I can work things out and move forward both personally and artistically.

See that's already a start I used a word that contained art, something that might actually imply that what I'm trying to do is actually art. I've felt safe calling what I do creative up until now but part of the journey is to move forward and move beyond my own limitations.

So here I am picking myself up, dusting myself off, making myself all pretty again and ready to start anew.

I will be following Sarah Whitmire's Soul Journal prompts which actually took place earlier this year back in July.

http://sarahwhitmire.blogspot.com/2008/07/s-journaling.html

I also recalled hearing about this on some of the yahoo groups and remembered someone had started a group just for discussing the Soul Journal so I joined that as well.

Now I have to get myself a book and gather some supplies but I am going to do this, I need to do this, I'm doing this for me and its okay to do something for me!

Thanks for the inspiration M : )

The Doubter

I was just reading an old issue of Artist's Sketchbook from June 2002 and there is an article about your Creative Personality. Yup you guessed it I found mine, nailed it on the head, couldn't have put it any better myself. Now how to I overcome this and move forward?

The Doubter
Motto: "Me? Creative? HA!"

The Doubter would love to be creative, but she's scared of looking stupid. Depending on her nature, she'll take one or two approaches to art. Impatient types might try something new, but if it doesn't seem to be going the way they hoped, they give up on it. More tentative personalities don't even get that far. Convinced of their lack of artistic ability, they wait ...and wait ... for inspiration to strike and just the right project to come along. Harrumphs and deep sighs are the hallmarks of Doubters.

So there you have that's me as far as my creative ability goes, I'm a Doubter. Everyone else in my family has that creative gene but for some strange reason I wasn't there the day they were being given out. I must have lost my invitation or maybe I just wasn't invited.

The article goes on to suggest some "creativity boosters" and one of them happens to be getting a kit like a paint by numbers or something along the lines I might buy for my own kids. Its supposed to take the pressure off. What?

If I can't handle a paint by numbers and it looks like something my 5 year old would do then that's even worse and I would really feel stupid then. That's the reason why I pursued Altered Arts because for me there seemed to be no rules to follow and I could take something and make it into something else and call it art.

But that's where the Doubter in me comes out to play again and I need to stop comparing myself to others and just have fun with it and to not worry about what others think. Yeah, easier said then done, huh?

Tune in next week for my next excuse as to why I just don't haven't been doing anything creative...

Birthday Goodies!

As some of you know I recently celebrated my 39th - yes that's right 39th birthday. I'm very blessed to have some wonderful friends who made me feel extra special. I wanted to share with you one of my gifts as I know you will love it as much as I do.

Michelle over at 3rd Eye Muse (who I'm honored to know in real life even thought we don't see each other very often) makes these super cool origami cranes. I've received a few over the years, usually attached to her awesome Lemon Poppyseed Cake at Christmas. I believe she even tried showing us how to make then at the park one day. I'm all thumbs and just couldn't fold the paper like that.

Her latest creation involved making these cranes even smaller and the detail is amazing, I don't know how she does it. For my Birthday I was given a pair of earrings made from these paper cranes.

You can see a picture and read more about theme at Michelle's blog:
http://3rdeyemuse.blogspot.com/search/label/cranes

Thanks for making me feel extra special on my Birthday, I'm proud to wear these super cool crane earrings!

:)

Update

If anybody out there is still following my blog I just wanted to let you all know I'm still alive and still have internet access for the time being.

Hoping and praying for a miracle and that things will get better for my family and all the others out there that are suffering.

Since my last post I've celebrated a birthday which wasn't much of a celebration but I am blessed to have some wonderful friends who made me feel extra special. I'll share some of that with you soon.

My clothing biz is still for sale and I'm open to offers if anyone knows anyone who may be looking to get started working from home. I am also willing to sell just the inventory if anyone out there is already established and just needs to add to what they have.

I miss having time to be creative and I miss visiting with my artsy friends and hope to see you all soon!

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Brillante Weblog Premio Award

Vicki over at Simply Vicki surprised me with this blog award today. Thanks Vicki : )

Here are the instructions for the following Brillante Weblog Premio award recipients:

1. Place the logo on your blog.
2. Link to the person who awarded you.
3. You can nominate up to 5 blogs.
4. You can then add their links to your blog
5. Leave a message in the comment section to each nominee on their blog

I'm going to change this up a bit by placing this over on my All Things Natural Blog since I've already done a few artsy awards in the past. Hope that's okay?

So pop on over to All Things Natural to see my nominations - see you there ...



: )

I just had to blog and let you all know that a dear friend of mine has been published and for a great cause too! Michelle of 3rd Eye Muse writes . . .

You might and might not know, but I participated in the creation of an Art Doll to benefit the Susan G Komen for the cure Foundation. The project was spearheaded by a woman named Monica Magness. She made a call to artists requesting that people create a 2 inch square to be used on the art doll – ultimately there were a total of 182 artists that responded and contributed to the creation of not only the doll (aptly named Love Squared), but other artsy items for a drawing. The doll has made a trip to Art Doll Quarterly where it was photographed and featured in their Autumn 2008 issue (pages 50 – 53) and has since made her way back to Monica’s home. The drawing is already in progress, but if you are interested in getting your name into the drawing (will be entered two times for every $10.00 donation) it will remain open until October 15, 2008.

For details, please visit: http://girl-gone-thread-wild.blogspot.com/2008/05/pink-artist-drawing-august-1-october-15.html - the web page includes ways to make donations, a more detailed story of how the project happened, links to all the squares submitted and so much more!

Mini Canvas

I was feeling creative this morning and here is what I made. It is a mini canvas from Blick, it measures 2.5 x 3.5 which is the same size as an ATC so I felt comfortable working in this size.

My inspiration came from Sherrill Kahn's book titled Creative Embellishments. You can read more about the book here.

I painted the base with Metallic Antique Copper and while it was still wet I used a stamp to pull some of the paint back off creating the faint script in the background. Then I used Lumiere paint in Halo Blue-Gold to highlight and accent.

Then I added a wrapped chenille pipe cleaner and a stamped fun foam embellishment I made earlier from the Creative Embellishments book.

Working on canvas was new to me and definitely something I will do again. I have 4 more mini canvases and a few larger 11x14 ones along with some canvas panels to play with.

Click photos to enlarge for detail.

Your Great Quotation of the Day

It is always with excitement that I wake up in the morning wondering what my intuition will toss up to me, like gifts from the sea. I work with it and rely on it. It's my partner.

Jonsa Salk