Ebb and Flow

In the last three years of my crafty life, I have learned one thing - my drive/willingness to be creative ebbs and flows.  Sometimes I don't want anything to do with crafting - don't want to look at the stuff in my house - want it out of my head.  Other times - I'm full of ideas and a creating machine.  And then - there are the times I want more - I want to stretch myself and do new things.  I know this much is true - there is no constant when it comes to creativity (at least not mine).  This year I realized one more thing - I'm interested in crafting at the end of the school year.  I'm too stressed.  My head is full of too many things to even think beyond the day to day.  Last year it took almost two months for my head to clear - but this year it only took one little convention.

I went to a rubber stamp convention nearby recently - and I was completely floored.  I had planned on getting quite a few things from my local Archivers at the Hero Arts trunk show.  I even took stock of how I had used my stamp purchases last year at the same convention and the results were not good.  I assumed the Hero Arts images I would use the most.  I kept to the plan for about 10 minutes of shopping and then realized there was no way I was going to Archivers.  I've already used a few of my images and wanted to share them with you today.  I am so happy to find stamps that have people that look like me - can't even say how much it means to me.  So without further ado....

The first three images are from RubberNecker Stamps - which has great images at a very low price point.  I got six stamps for $27 from this company.  The stamps were pre-cut, unmounted with cling foam.  Doesn't get much better than that.  The last stamps were from Too Much Fun Rubberstamps.  I love the oven and the sentiment.  It's too great and fits my personality so well.  These are just a first go with my goodies.  I will have much more to play with in the upcoming weeks.  Finally excited to create.  Can't tell you how much I love that.

I'm going to leave you with a picture of a new project I plan to start in the coming weeks.  It represents an opportunity to stretch and grow which I just love. 

And with that - there isn't much more to report.  I hope everyone has had a nice weekend!  Until then...

The Voice Inside My Head

Last night I was with friends for dinner and I started thinking a lot about the voice inside my head.  Some people call it their inner critic - but I'm not nearly that high brow.  I call her the voice inside my head.  I use to have a name for her and thought she was being protective but now I know different.  I'm the kind of person who thinks way too much.  I'm naturally introverted and most of my recharging happens when I'm alone and she pops out.  And she's good at keeping me safe - but her way of doing that is to keep me out of the game - to stay with what's familiar and comfortable.  She can be a great help.  But let's' be frank - sometimes she's downright ugly.  I can hardly do anything that I enjoy without her harping about whether I'm doing it right and that I can't be wrong.  She thinks mistakes are for chumps.  She doesn't like hanging out there to see something new.  She's all about protection at any cost.  Something happened recently and I realized it's time to start doing the hard, uncomfortable things.  I'm never going to get where I want if I don't take some risks.  So though I'm thankful she has been keeping me safe - I need her to be a little more adventurous.  And I know that she's me - but it feels more empowering to separate her from the bulk of who I am.  It makes it easier to figure out a new plan.  After all - life isn't a dress rehearsal.  Until then...

BTW: All this talk of the voice inside my head makes me think of the song by Sister Hazel, "The World Inside My Head."  I love it.  Thought I'd give the opportunity to listen to it here.

Overload

Three posts in one day!  I can hardly believe it myself!  I just wanted to leave you with a picture of the card I made today.  It's a little busy - but I like it overall.  Love this set from Hero Arts - just perfect for birthdays.  It felt good to make a card and have an actual event in mind.  Gotta love crafting for a specific purpose.  I hope everyone has a rockin' Friday night.  Until then...

Thankful for Friends

Everyone needs one - one friend that listens and cares no matter what.  One friend that's willing to put up with your craziness and the accompanying random bullsh*! that comes out of your mouth.  One friend that mourns with you in your times of sadness and rejoices with you in times of happiness.  One friend that will travel miles to be with you.  One friend that cheers you on when you are insecure.  One friend that makes you laugh.  One friend that introduces you to new things. One friend that believes in you when you don't have the strength to believe in yourself.  I'm so glad to have found friends like that in my lifetime - to have rarely been without one.  I'm glad now when things have gotten blurry.  I hope to always be this kind of friend to at least one person.  It makes such a huge difference.  It's made such a huge difference for me.  And right now, in this moment, I wish it for everyone.  Until then...

An Ode to Laundry

I want to say something about laundry in an apartment - it blows!  Once again I am stuck going to the local laundromat where it is okay to SMOKE - which gets a big WTF!  I can't tell you what a pet peeve it is to go to the place clean clothes live and have to deal with the smoke, and your clothes smelling like smoke, and the fact that you can't breathe because this place has reactivated your dormant asthma.  I grow tired of making this trek and don't wash as much clothes as I should cuz who the hell wants to sit in the smoky laundromat all day.  I am in search of an apartment with a washer/dryer hook-up.  I'm not sure how I'll afford a washer and dryer, but at this point I might consider selling myself to get one or maybe even Tonks!  I've been putting this off all week but now it's time to do it.  It's really been too long.  I think I'll bring The Happy Book to lift me up from the heinousness known as the laundromat.  Until then...

BTW: Another great picture from morguefile.com. 

I'm Not Kidding!

I bought this book earlier this week at my local Barnes and Noble, otherwise known as my second home or why I eat Ramen Noodles half the month.  It's in the same vein as Wreck this Journal, This is Not a Book, and Listography: Journal Your Life in Lists.  In my humble opinion, it's a little piece of sunshine.  Anyone who knows me understands how crazy it is that I would buy a book like this - not that I would buy a book because that's pretty predictable.  I'm not one of those people that's bubbling over with happiness.  I wouldn't even say I'm an optimist.  I would say I generally stay around the middle of the road.  I'm optimistic for others but generally not so much for myself.  It's a terrible habit really.  So - enter The Happy Book.  It's pretty amazing with prompts for writing, creative projects, photo scavenger hunts, etc.  Here's the product description from Amazon:

The Happy Book shows how to practice and celebrate happiness so you can find it when you really need it. Packed with creative prompts, wacky ideas, and hip activities, this is the ultimate pick-me-up. Packaged to encourage doodling and drawing, The Happy Book has space to scribble thoughts, make lists, fill in the blanks, and paste pictures. This book is about creating a record of what makes you glad, whether that means '80s hair bands or hot chocolate with churros.

Fully interactive and customizable for each reader, The Happy Book allows today's social networking fans an offline outlet for play. From photo scavenger hunts to cake baking to finger painting, everyone's happy formula is unique. The Happy Book enables readers to celebrate and share whatever gives them wall-to-wall joy. 

Ive already started to do some entries.  I'm started the words that make you happy prompt (Zimbabwe is on the top of the list - I just love the ways it rolls off the tongue), favorite color (stamped my branch out image from Stampin' Up), my favorite people, and books that make me happy.  I had a hard time with the books prompts.  I didn't know if I needed to choose happy books or books that I love and just thinking about reading them brings me happiness.  I went with the second idea.  I figured it's my friggin' book and frankly anyone who wants to critique it can suck it.  Not so happy thought but anything to quiet the loser in my head.  So there it is - my new favorite find.  I write in it at my crafting station so it just feels so good.  I look forward to carrying it around with me and doing some of the action prompts.  I also think it's sort of like a time capsule.  It shows what makes me happy right now.  I think it'll be really interesting to go back and look at later on in my life.  Can't wait!  I really hope this day finds you happy.  Until then...

Bliss

Hummingbirds are my bliss.  Growing up we visited Mt. Shasta, California for swimming meets and we always hung out with these really great people.  They had a beautiful house in a wooded area.  As time went on, I became good friends with their daughter and spent extra time in the "city" after the Mt. Shasta swim meet - always one of the hottest places we traveled to - hands down.  They had a red hummingbird feeder similar to the one pictured here.  I loved it.  I love these little birds with their wings flapping at what seemed like light speed to my younger self.  They were fabulous.  Now that I'm "all grown up" - I still love hummingbirds.  My breath catches each time I see one.  They remind me of easier times when my whole life was in front of me.  Before the pressure of adulthood and conformity took over - when I was still in touch with my creative self.  This picture captures that feeling perfectly - the feeling of bliss, joy, magic and possibility.

It might come as a surprise - but this picture started out looking like this:

It's a beautiful picture as is - but still I wanted to try to see if I could give it vintage effects and a little texture using Photoshop Elements.  I think I did a pretty good job for my first time out.  I found the picture at Morgue File - a fabulous site I heard about on Paperclipping Roundtable.  They have copyright free images and they're amazing.  It works out well for a girl like me that doesn't take many pictures.  I used a texture from flickr.  I really wish I knew the user name for the person because it's amazing!  So there you are - my first crack at vintage.  I had big plans to post about something else entirely - but...[insert cute quote about plans here - for the love of God I can't think of one]. ;),  I hope everyone is having a nice Sunday.  I spent part of mine at my second home - Barnes & Noble which was heavenly.  More on that another day.  Until then...

The Day I Operated on 2.5 Hours of Sleep

I'm happy to report the school year is over and I have more than two months of rest and relaxation in front of me.  I thought I would be crafting like a fiend by now.  But I forgot that I'm pretty spent at this time of the year and the last thing I want to do is think too much.  And trust me...I think way too much when I'm crafting.  The inner critic in my head is a chatty thing.  So instead of crafting, I've been reading like nobody's business.  I stayed up until 4:00 in the morning trying to read this book.  I was 15 pages away from the end when I threw in the towel.  Absolutely nothing was registering in my brain.  So - I fell asleep until 6:30 (WTF?) and promptly had a disaster in my bathroom (overflowing toilet to the likes of nothing I've ever seen before - didn't know it could put out so much frickin' water!).  So after that - I needed some time to unwind or I was going to need to crawl out of my own skin.  I finally finished the last 15 pages about 15 minutes ago and can say with absolutely certainty - I love this book.  Next on the reading pile is this:

I'm really looking forward to jumping into this book.  I'll probably start it sometime today with the hope of finishing it in the next few days.  I want to be a reading machine this summer.  I can't seem to get much reading done during the school year - so I have very high hopes for Summer 2010!  I think I read 10 or 11 books last year and I'm hoping to beat that number.  Let's hope I can do it.  I'm also reading this and this at the same time if anyone is interested.  I find that I can't read 2 fiction books at a time but I can mix in other genres.  Funny how that works.

On the crafting front I don't have anything to report.  I need to make 15 cards for my dad in the next week.  I'm giving myself a deadline.  I also need to print out pictures and finish my layout for the next installment in the circle journal - which I'm realizing might not be for me.  I do not like crafting on demand.  I need to get pictures printed from Iowa (not many but a few I would like to scrap).  And I need to wrap my head around making an art piece based on some pretty strong feelings I had recently.  Hoping the fog will lift soon so I can be a crafting and reading machine.  Hope everyone has a nice Saturday.  Until then...