Don't Be Jealous Of My Boogie

"It must be nice to be so creative." Or "I wish I were creative like you." Or "If I had all the time in the world, like you do, I'd be creative.  Someday, I'll get to be creative, like you."  I hear that sort of thing all the time, and first thing that comes to my mind when I hear all that is. "Well, you are as creative as me.  And what fear is stopping you?"   We all have 24 hours in a day to create.  Create whatever we want with that time.  Yes, we have stuff to deal with within that day.  We have to earn our keep, our daily bread. That doesn't mean it can't be creative, now does it?  I know I keep saying this, and it's important, creativity is in all of us.  It's all in how we choose to look (or not look) at things.  Creativity is a vital energy force, once tapped and expressed, can drive us on to bigger and better things.  At the very least, fill our with ease and joyful expression.
I want to go back to my comment about, looking at things creatively or not looking at things at all, more to the point.  Sometime we don't want to look at things going on in us and around us.  Why? Is is it fear?  Fear of what we might see?  Fear of not being able to respond or having to respond or deal with it?  Or all that and more?
Stepping up, and putting on those "let's really look at this" eyeglasses, will only help you grow and here's the biggest gift I've discovered in all this...it's another way to get the creativity to flow.  Yes, it helps us solve problems, but it also helps us create art, and an artful joyful life.  Pretty cool.
Yes, my friend and blog reader, you are as creative as I am.  I'm  here to stand next to you and tell you this.  One more time, a thousand more times.  And you have time to enjoy and discover the depths of your creativity everyday.  Please don't stand on the side lines of your life and look around at others creating and with a sigh, say. "Someday.  Someday I'll get to create."  That someday is now for you!

Here's my " let's really look at this" moment of the week.  My wonderful boy cat, Gus, loves to search out and chew on plastic.  He loves a good zip lock bag, but when that is not available, he'll go for a plain old store shopping bag.  Eating plastic is one of the most unhealthy things a cat can eat, so I've had to be very careful about the bags around the house.  It's a battle.  I have to keep some plain old store shopping bags around for cleaning up the litter boxes.  We have a spot in our kitchen, behind our garbage can that has worked great for years.  My husband and I just stuff the bags behind the can.  Easy access to pull them out when we need them.  That has worked for years...enter Gus.  Mr. Search and Eat a Plastic Bag Gus.  Last week he discovered the stash of plastic bags.  Enter problem to be solved.... and this week's project.  A great little bag  crocheted out of cotton yarn that was headed to the Donations bag.  It holds the bags I need safely and organized.  We can still get to them, but Mr. Gus can't.  Now I could have just fought this problem, yelled at Gus and had all sorts of plastic bag drama in the house.  Instead...this is a very nice and clean solution.  Creativity engaged and problem solved.  Whee!  The plus side was this didn't take a ton of my time as well, and a time when I'm very busy dealing with other life things.  Taking that little bit of time to engage my creativity and solve this problem, actually in the end gave me more time. How?  Well, I'm not having to stop or worry about Mr. Gus getting at the bags.  How much time can that take? You ask.  Well, every time he's decided to lunch down on a bag, I have to stop what I'm doing to stop him.  It's little minutes and seconds that chip away at my time to create and do my daily work.  Now it's not a problem.  Whee, again!
So, don't get me wrong, I like it when folks acknowledge that I'm creative.  But don't spend your time in envy and jealousy, 'cause you have it in you as well.  Get in here and dance!  Create!

What problem will you solve this week using your creativity?  How will that creative expression/problem solved, show out into the world?

Until next week...create to feel great!
24 projects complete!  28 to go!

The Old Razzle Dazzle

"You must not let your life run in the ordinary way; do something that nobody else has done, something that will dazzle the world.  Show that God's creative principle works in you."~ Paramahansa Yogananda

This was the quote of the day on my desk Zen calendar.  At first read, I thought. "Wow! It's something I aspire to, but that's a lot of pressure."  This dazzling the world stuff.  And yet the last line says, "Show that God's creative principle works in you."   That's the key.  Tapping in to that principle. I think when I do that, the dazzling takes care of its self.  How can it not?  I'm in tune with something bigger than all of us.  An abundant channel for creating, bringing joy into my life and just having a great deal of fun. I also feel that tapping into that principal is as simple as waking up in the morning and being. We are all so unique that we tap into this principal in maybe the same way, but get something that no one else has done or could do, 'cause that's one of the gifts from the source. Our uniqueness.
My case in point happened this week.  I'm working on costumes for a show.  The show is set in 1950.  Well-to-do characters.  I've noticed that I always get a little bit of a creative block when starting to work on a show.  I figured it's that I feel like I have to dazzle everyone with my most dazzling designs.  It creates a ball of fear, tension, anxiety.  I do get over it, as I get the costumes put together.  This week I just couldn't shake this ball of fear.  With it came with stupid decisions, or worse, no decisions, not a lot of work getting done and feeling negativity setting in.  I realized that I was trying way too hard.  The desire to "dazzle the world", only resulted in my stirring up a big old pot of doubt.  A total waste of time and certainly no fun.  I realized I had stepped away from tapping into that big old creative channel.  I went to bed that night with only one thought, to sleep and to be when I wake up.  Sure enough, I woke up with a big deep breath and as my day unfolded, I was tapped in.  Ideas, and intuitive "hits" on where to get the most excellent items for cheap came to me.  I felt light and free.  In the flow.  I think I'm coming up with some pretty dazzling stuff and it certainly fits the look of the show, and at the same time has my style all over it.  I feel when we really show up with our gifts, we dazzle.  When we hide our gifts..not so much dazzling going on.

I'm not sure what this week's project has to do with dazzling the world.  Except, that I needed a pin cushion for my traveling sewing kit and my hat making sewing kit.  I was using a piece of tired old foam on both cases. No fun.  I'm also celebrating Spring and it's coming...so more flower like items.  Perhaps, these pin cushions will serve as a cheerful reminder to once again tap into the creative principal and let the dazzling flow. As Spring is springing out all over, everyday I see bright beautiful flowers showing up and they are dazzling.  They tap into what is given them to grow and then they are not afraid or ashamed to  show up and be the beautiful flowers they are.  Are we any different than the flowers?  Simple.  Well, yes it's simple.  And isn't it a relief that it is sometimes?
How will you tap into this wonderfully abundant creative principle and dazzle the world?  No pressure.  Really, I mean it.
Until next week..create to feel great!   And tap in to dazzle!
23 projects complete. 29 to go!

One Potato, Two Potato

It's still March and it's still National Craft Month.  That written, I'm still on the pursuit for "throw back crafts."  Stuff I use to do as a kid.  This week, I chose potato stamping.  My good friend (well we've never met, someday...hint), Martha Stewart loves a good potato stamp project.  I remember doing them at home, in school and when I was a Blue Bird (the ranks below a Camp Fire Girl).  
I'm going to say this right now...Potato stamping is an easy concept.  It is an easy project.  It was me,myself, and I, who took the simple craft of carving a potato, putting some color on it and pressing it on to a surface, into a big damn deal.  Why?   The pursuit of perfection.  That's why.  I had what I thought was the perfect vision. This  perfect idea in my head of what I wanted.  I became so locked in to this idea and the out come.  I carved through at least ten potato sections, becoming increasingly unhappy with each one.  I kept thinking to myself, "This junk looks homemade.  It's looks like crap."  Finally a better thought came to me, "How can I make this closer to my vision?  Why am I so attached to perfection and the perfect outcome?"

I took a break and went to JoAnn's Fabrics for some other things I'm working on for a theater project.  In their dollor bins, I found the stamp I was trying to carve.  Not a potato, but a stamp that would help me get closer to the look I wanted for the project.   Is this "cheating"?  No it's mixed media.  My carved heart is a potato stamp.  The sponge stamp, is the modern take on an old craft.   Works for me.  I think my result is excellent, I love it!   I've learned through the years the excellence is far superior to perfection everytime. Excellence keeps me open to the possibilities, the inspiration, the joy.  Pursuit of perfection, the road to frustration, takes me away from the joy and the moment.

So, are you pursuing perfection or excellence?

Until next week...create to feel great!
22 projects complete  30 to go.

As a P.S.  this shirt got an ink mark on it, so in a way it's an upcyled project as well.  New use to a shirt that was headed to the bin.

Petal Pushin'

This has been a challenging winter for me. Not a lot of snow or cold in my area, but one unplanned thing after another to deal with.  It could get a girl down for real.   I'm grateful I started this campaign, it has kept my spirits high and focused.  My kitties are healthy. I'm doing better every day.  It's time for Spring!  The sooner the better.
March is also National Craft Month.  So, of course we on the Campaign Trail are going to celebrate!  I was wondering how does a person celebrate National Craft Month, besides just crafting until your hands hurt?  I have crafted since I was a kid.  I can't remember a time or day when I wasn't "makin' somthin'." I think, for a celebration of National Craft Month, I'm going to go back to basics.  Back to some of the fun stuff I use to make as a kid, and see if I can put an adult spin or updated spin on it or at very least make it look like something I could use in my everyday life.

One of the very first crafts I remember making as a kid were flowers.  I grew up in the 1960s, and my mother was in love with burlap and pom pom flowers.  These things came in orange, yellow, avocado green and hot pink. Remember it was the 1960's.  We would make them and place them in vases and just think they were the most wonderful things ever.  Hand crafted flowers are still a part of crafting books, blogs and websites. Since I don't garden very well and wanting to celebrate Spring and National Craft Month. Making flowers were the ticket. I really wanted to stay away from working in burlap.I recall the burlapy flowers were real dust collectors.  I found a website that had these cute little buds.           

 I did my own take on making these.  I thought they would make great hat decorations, or lapel pins. They used vintage buttons and I decided to make them out of felt scraps.  I glued pin backs or magnets on the backs of the flowers. I think there might be even more uses for these flowers and can be made out of all sorts of fabrics. Spring has sprung!  It wasn't a direct throw back to my childhood, but it was crafting flowers.  These were so simple and easy, it was difficult to stop making them.    Want to know how to make these darlings?  Go to http://artsycraftsybabe.typepad.com/  I think she calls them Fluffy Flowers.

How will you celebrate the coming of Spring?
And just as important...    National Craft Month?

                                                                         Until next week...create to feel great!
21 projects complete.  31 to go.

One more thing to celebrate: The Campaign is now listed among the blogs on the Craft Place.  An outstanding crafting site, we are sharing company with some of the best and most creative crafters around.  Check it out at www.craftplace.org/blogs
Whee!!!