This week I’ve been experimenting with different ways of creating. Although I’ve been busy with work, I’ve found ways to be creative even with regular chores to bring fun into all aspects of my life. Sometimes I think a lot has to do with your state of mind…I can decide to be miserable because I must do xyz or I can just stick it out, whistle while I work or dance around madly thinking of how great it’ll feel to be done. I realized that making things fun helps me a lot, even if I’m feeling tired or worn down.

For many artistic projects, I fumble during the process because I find myself preoccupied with the final result.  I suppose because art is so personal, we feel more conscious about creations, how we would be judged and such.  Either way, all the worrying really makes the experience of creating not fun.  Whoa, that’s sort of contrary to the whole magical process of creating, right? I was creating my own problems, freaking myself out and then feeling depressed when things really went awry.  No fun…lots of fear blocking my way.

I am a believer in the process where the result is just possible icing on the cake. I had to remind myself of that fact…it’s so easy to be caught up and just want lovely stuff to show folks. Ultimately, it is so important to have fun and let yourself go free to experiment without worrying about the final result. When it comes to creating product, there will always prototypes and trials…so why not just approach everything as if it were a trial? If the final perfect product is realized, then great!  If not, hey, you can go at it again and have fun. I realized that I can always give something another try or redo something so that I’m happy in the end…rather than freezing myself with fear or fumbling through it and feeling dissatisfied because I believed it was my final attempt.

Create fearlessly, I say – I have been telling myself that a lot this week. I decided to make journals that convey that message, with messy ink blots all over to help us all get past futile perfection and just have fun.  I hope to be able to show a lot of work next week…for now I will let myself take the weekend off and take in a lot of inspiration to recharge. I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend and don’t forget… create fearlessly!

Posted on February 19, 2010 at 11:45 pm | thoughts + discussion | 14 comments

Happy Thursday to everyone!  I have been super busy with work, especially today.  However, my mind has already been spinning with ideas on how to use my newly acquired leather and paper.  Oooo…

A roll of lovely black leather, made to become purses but these are the scraps – a roll of old fashioned paper with Snow White illustration and a classic roll of paper in Florentine pattern designs.  Jeepers, I can’t wait to use them all!  Oh, BTW if you haven’t already… check out yesterday’s post to get one of my free handmade journals. Until next time…

Posted on February 18, 2010 at 8:39 pm | work in progress | 8 comments

Hello dearies!

Since I have no purpose for the journals I made I thought I would give them away to my lovely blog readers.  Anyone need a journal sketchbook for some art making?  I used materials I have lying around the house, so there might be wear and tear on the corners, but otherwise all blank pages ready for your creativity.  Check out my post yesterday for more pictures and details. There are two up for grabs…I’ll send them anywhere in the world.

Just comment below saying which one you want.  Or if either one is okay just say that and you’ll be put in both groups for the random drawing next week.  Enjoy!

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

Posted on February 17, 2010 at 6:41 pm | bookbinding, free goodies | 58 comments

Hello everyone!  I wanted to share some progress in my journal making and bookbinding adventures…namely, some mistakes and major boo boos!  I was able to finish two journals, but learning a lot along the way.

First, I made this shabby chic journal, pattern paper from scrapbooking to make the covers with some heavier weight cream colored paper inside.  I stitched this page by page, so every page could lay out flat completely.  However, using embroidery thread and a loose hand, it became really loose as you can see in the photo and I don’t think the decorative element shows with such soft thread.  Inside I also printed a titled but made a mistake with the term “create fearlessly” as I meant it to go on the last page, oops!  Well, the rest of the pages are blank, so maybe it’ll provide funky inspiration regardless!

The second journal also has similar pattern paper covers and on second thought I will try to find some thicker type of board for covers.  This one has cream paper as well, but regular copy paper weight with 8 signatures, so lots of pages for sketching and such.  I also used natural fiber linen string, which I think looks much better…more structure and stitching design showing in the binding.  However, I also had tension issues with this as well, some places looser, some places tighter!

So now I am going to try and make a sort of remains of the day type of journal from some cardboard covers and random papers I have lying around.  Better bound than spread all over my room definitely.  Not sure what to do with these journals though…I already have too many started and doodled in…eek!

Posted on February 16, 2010 at 4:54 pm | bookbinding | 12 comments

When I first started getting into the blogging and exploring the art/craft community online I found the work of Laura Berger and have been following her blog ever since. I really admire her illustration and painting style…it has a digital graphic feel, but done by hand and has that handdrawn cozy feel to it as well. Her work is whimiscal and thoughtful at the same time, you just feel attracted to it.  All very inspiring and happy…hope you have a great Monday with all this lovely inspiration.

Images Copyright Laura Berger

Posted on February 15, 2010 at 9:44 am | inspiration | 4 comments