Creative Every Day

This beautiful fabric postcard is by Jhodi Bennett - our "theme" this month was to use hearts and copper mesh somewhere on the postcard. Jhodi has used mica as well to great effect (although it is reflecting a bit in my scan unfortuntely) and as always, has come up with a very individual and creative look! I'm still working on mine but they should be finished this weekend (if I get off the computer and get on with it!).

I haven't been able to get back to my pre-Christmas blogging pattern so my posts are a bit sporadic at the moment! Anyway, in an earlier post I said I was going to participate in the "Creative Every Day" movement for 2008. I think it is really reassuring when you don't have time to paint or sew or stamp to think of ways to be creative in your everyday life - say by approaching the cooking of a meal as a creative exercise rather than a time-pressured necessity!
One of the main ways I am participating is by thinking of creative ways to use short periods of time - the sort of time that is so easy to "lose" or "waste" because it is so short that you end up doing nothing.

So for example, when I have between 5 and 15 minutes, I am painting a single page in my art journal as a background for further development, or I am sorting through images that I need for a project, or cutting up unmounted stamp plates, spraying various Moon Shadow Mists on pages of text as quick backgrounds for future projects, stamping a few images, cutting Pelmet Vilene Plus into postcard sizes etc etc. It is amazing actually how much you can get done in a very short amount of time. It of course helps that I can leave stuff out and don't have to set up or tidy it away after every use. This month I am going to keep a bit of a daily log of creative activities to help me focus on finding little ways (as well as big ways!) of being creative every day.

The other thing I am doing as a daily practice is to always have an unlined spiral back journal with me or near me so that I can jot down ideas and update my various lists (usually to do lists of art commitments!!) whenever I stop for a cup of tea etc. At the moment I have 5 of these journals in various locations, including one in my handbag and one next to my bed and it is really working for me.

And if I had made any New Year Resolutions I would have made one to not buy any more rubber stamps, but as I didn't, I don't have to feel bad that I ordered some great new stamps from Joyce at Paper Forest Designs (in Western Australia) while I was restocking on my favourite Moon Glow Glitz sprays! Aren't they all beautiful? The mini plates (ARTistree) are Paper Forest Designs and the other three are from Crafty Individuals. I'm sure they will all help me be more creative this month!

Yesterday Sharon B announced the Take IT Further challenge for February and I am quite excited about this one. There is a choice of a colour scheme - see below - or a concept (or a combination of both) but I think I will be going with the concept - "what are you old enough to remember?"

This really appeals to me as it immediately made me think of paper bags and how much difference it made (on all sorts of levels, including environmental) when plastic bags became available in my youth (I don't actually remember exactly when?). It is especially relevant now that they are being phased out (slowly) and cloth and paper bags are making a big comeback!

I think this month I will work with paper rather than fabric to develop this theme - my initial idea is to do a brown paper bag quilt of some description. I'll probably let this idea percolate away for a while as I already know what I want to do for the other Journal Quilt challenge that I am participating in. The themes are Graffiti or Colour and I really want to do a bright ragged edge scrap strip quilt. It is something I have never done before but think would be quick, easy and fun! I saw one that had been made for the January Seasons theme and it really appealed to me as a great way to get a lot of colour in a small A4 size quilt. It also fits with my intention to maximize use of the fabrics and supplies I already have - with these journal and art quilts I am trying to only buy things that need replacing, not additional fabrics. We'll see how long that lasts!