So Ugly It Is Cute

My much beloved, Mickeygirl cat, turned 15 years old this past week.  She's amazingly healthy (after her one long illness), round and sassy and ever so loving.  It's a joy to have her sleep and snore next to me on the futon sofa, as I craft or write or hang out.

Now, 15 is a milestone in a cat's life, she's roughly the same age as Betty White.  I wanted to make her something that would bring her comfort as well as some fun.  So, I decided on making her a cat nip Ugly Doll. Ugly Dolls are a current pop culture thing.  I don't get it.  When I was a kid, anything ugly was, well, in a word, ugly.  No one I knew wanted an ugly doll or anything with ugly as part of it's name. I have say, however I had a huge troll doll collection, but I didn't think of them as ugly.  They just had a different body shape than Barbie and her friends.  Trolls could bring you good luck. An ugly doll filled with cat nip as a gift for a cat seemed sort cool to me.  Perhaps it would bring Mickeygirl some good luck in the coming year. At the very least, it would make her feel good.
I started by looking for a pattern for an Ugly Doll.  They really don't exist, because they are sort of free form. Upon realizing this "free form" idea, I created my own pattern.  I found something liberating in making something that was not perfect. Not pretty.  That was ugly.  That didn't mean that it had to be crappy looking either.
I discovered a big difference between crappy looking and ugly looking.  Crappy looking, looks like you really don't care.  It's throw together with no thought, no concept, and importantly...no love.  Making something that was ugly looking, I had to give it thought, I had to have a concept of what I thought was ugly and I made this with a lot of love.  That last word "love" is key.  Things made with love usually look better (even when the idea is to make ugly), or taste better (yum! home cooking), or sound better (people singing from their heart).
For me, love is key in all things I do.  Coming from a place of love, makes creative expression so much easier.  Coming from a place of love of others makes life easier.  I find when there is that ease in life and love in life, life is wonderful and there isn't much place of negativity and all it's trappings.
So, I look at this Ugly Doll filled with catnip as it lies on my floor waiting for the next cat attack (Mickeygirl loved it so much, she had trouble attacking it for the first couple of days.  Gus took care of that.) I think it's sort of cute, because I can see the love I put into to give to my girl.  That girl cat has taught me more lessons about love over the years and what it means and looks like, it is only fitting that she gets a gift of love for her birthday and everyday.
When was the last time you created something out of love?
Until next week...create to feel great!
1 project complete! 51 to go! Whee Year 2!