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Posts tagged ‘creativity’

chop suey Sunday 26th

Today, was a day of errands.  After church I was busy gathering ingredients for a soup, and then to a craft supply place that still had their special sale on.  With the holidays around the corner, I have once again, begun to work at my “work table.” I want to finish cards that I have promised for a few “retail” outlets, and want to make a few personal greetings that need to be posted soon.

To accomplish this, I wander and look at everything that I discover along my path, one never knows when an idea or a creative moment will present itself.  Funny I go into a shop looking for a very specific item or theme, and come out with way more than I had anticipated.  Anyone else, know this curious “happening” it is as if an elf is putting things in our basket when we aren’t looking.  When we do see it, we realize that ..”wow! that is a great ^whatever^ guess I will keep it.”

Fortunately, more often than naught, these are the items that will be the first to be consumed or used in the creative process.

If you are someone who delights in homemade soup… then you are likely familiar with the above utensils… maybe not these, but a strainer of some kind.

I start my soups with bones, for me the most delightful of tastes is the meat that is closest to the bone. Exquisite flavour can be obtained by combining the oddest ingredients, then after hours of slow simmer, straining the broth, only returning to the liquid ambrosia, the jewels you want to feature.  Sometimes they have absolutely nothing to do with the making of the broth.  But their taste, harmonized perfectly to offer up a feast not only for the eyes, but for your taste buds … not to mention the aromatic teasing of your senses

All this to say… I’ ve got a soup on the back burner, and I steamed my veggies to put on my rice, in a Pad Thai sauce.  Hmmm must be time for me to eat.

Hope you all had a great week-end.  Tomorrow we start a brand new week! Soon a new month will appear too…  YAY!!!!

Make every moment count, and enjoy all that life has to offer.. The more you succeed, the merrier life will be.

Oyashikiri

a mess!

Card mess 3

You don’t start out wanting to make a mess, but, that is what you end up with.  I had fabric I wanted to use, part of a dress, a piece from a pair of dress pants, in my head, I thought it would work out.. there were several attempts, In the end, I hit a wall.  The idea will resurface, but not now.  Now it is time to take a break, do something else.

The Tao says, ” a wise person, knows when to stop, a regroup.”  I’ve learned before that trying to force something to “work” when it just isn’t happening, assures a person of one thing…. FRUSTRATION  and a product that lacks “harmony”.

Sometimes we just have to accept.  We made a mess. =^_^=

PL Precept # 17  Grasp what is most essential

PL Precept #18  Each Moment is a Turning Point.

 

Oyashikiri

 

Are you Ready

santa card 2017

Yes, the time has come, I’ve put if off, but now need to focus on getting a few more cards done. We had such a gorgeous fall, that I simply couldn’t get into the ho ho ho mood.  Now, whether I want to or not, I know that I must meet my deadlines.

After all, people want to prepare, and if cards are being sent abroad, even out of country i.e. the  States, there are deadlines for the items you send to get there on time.

I was taken aback the other day, I sent my sister a  handmade card, she is in California, Canadian postage to the States is $1.20 for a single card of standard size.  I thought that was what I was sending, however, there is a rule, that the card must pass though a certain size of slot to go at that price, and if it doesn’t the price more than doubles.  What a whopping surprise that was.

Now I understood why customers look for cards that are not built out, or designed in a way that they impeded machine sorting at the postal service.  Explains why card companies have resorted to thinner card stock… not always producing a quality (in my opinion) product.

For the creative person who makes their own cards, we are faced with a poorer quality of card stock being offered.  Didn’t understand at first why the better card stocks were being reduced in price in some merchandise outlets.  Now the light bulb goes on, because the consumer is wanting to build a lighter card, so that their clients will want the cards, because they will cost less in postage.

Wow is the postal system the “scrooge” machines don’t have warm fuzzy feelings, they just mechanically move the product along.  It rips, it tears so what, unless a human catches it……..end result you receive a really battered product.

Hmmmmm….fright nite b

It is Friday, you bet! Holler and Shout, jump and Pounce, Saturday is on it’s way.

 

 

hexagon – sometimes

Quilted flower 10.27.17Sometimes, you decide to cut out a hexagon.  You have an idea.  But before you can really get carried away, your creative self goes to work… and yes, you do hexagons, but this is what you end up with.

Quilted hexagon flower 10.27.17

There is another step or two that followed, but the picture may or may not be completed, so… I leave you with the above.  I wanted fall colours, and I’ve done a flower.  We will have to wait to see what comes next.

Sometimes, we have to know when to stop, take a step back, and wait.

Happy week-end everyone!

Oyashikiri

Stash

fabric stash 4Happiness is finding that the coloured hook and loop tape is on sale, buy 1 and get 2 free.  I had not seen coloured hook and loop before, so I was for sure, having a few. Especially they were in the fall colours I was on the hunt for.

Took me awhile but I finally found the fat quarters, and when I did, I forgave the shop for hiding way in the back.  They were all half price. I managed to find enough quarters in the colours I was wanting.

fabric stash 3I’m even going to follow the “rules” and launder the pieces first before I start to cut them up and heat bond them.  I am showing you the raw pieces, before I play with them.  Hopefully I will eventually show you the end product.  I have no idea what I will do with the tape, but the possibilities are endless.

I’ve also begun to work on the art/junk journals again .. fall is in the air, I always get a nudge from Mother Nature at this time of year, the vibrant colours she splashes all around us is enticing.  Even the rows of golden rod and mellow yellows that dot the fields along the highways call out to me.

The unbelievable thrill of seeing the  1000 shades of orange/reds that wave from the hardwood trees that line the road, exhilarates.

My stash is slowly taking on the colour theme that I will work with. Yes I am excited at the pending creativity that is awake and churning to get going… anyone else out there feeling that zing that is floating around in the ethers of the bright fall days.  Not to mention the crisp night breezes that lull us to sleep.

It has been a super great Thursday  …  hello Friday, I’m ready for you.

May the happiness of the season, float effortlessly your way. Appreciate and enjoy this season of harvest.

Oyashikiri

PL Principle # 3   I will live with a mind of appreciation towards others and things.

bee,blessed

howling time

fright nite b

LOL the howling month approaches.  Love end of September, and all of October.  Witches, goblins, spiders and bright vivid shades of oranges, blood reds and black. It is time to dig out the dies, stencils and paints. Yahoooo where is the glue.

OK so not everyone is enthusiastic and carries on like I do.  But a roll of big bright ribbon with pumpkins and black cats… wow what a blast. here they are ready to be part of my stash

ribbon xy

I had so much fun, just finding the right shadows to go with the ribbons.

ribbon x

Having fun is what life is all about.  Happiness is… living each moment to the fullest.  At one time I would have cropped out or photo shopped out shadows etc.  Now I find that they are part of the moment, so I leave them in.

canvas torn

I found a picture of some torn canvas that I had happily ripped into shreds for a project.  I think I still have some, so will go in search of what is left.  I feel a new project coming on.. inspiration is rounding the corner.  Time to rock and roll!!!!

Have a good day my friends.

PL Precept # 2  To live is to express One’s Self.

gelli art 2.20.17

text, photos and artwork, Q

ribbon- MultiCraft Clearance Centre -Ottawa,On,Canada

bloomer painting

bloomers painted on Pepsi

Pepsi needed a skirt, shorts, or jeans, I couldn’t find anything suitable, so we painted a pair of bloomers for her.  I think that she looks pretty “neat”.  Next I will dig up a pair of shoes for her feet.

Life is Art  (Precept #1)

PL Precept #2  To live is to express One’s self.

This was fun.  How was your day?  Have a good start to a new week.

Oyashikiri

 

 

 

 

a dragon appears

dragon 1

Yes she knew he was not real, of course he was made out of pewter, and the blue gemstones were not the best… or so she was told…  then why did she feel that he watched her every move.  She wanted ChenMay to be there, but ChenMay was not with her, ChenMay was in another part of the grounds.

She hadn’t seen him at first, and now she didn’t know what had made her look down.  As soon as the sunlight had gleamed on his eyes, she had known to stop.  She searched her mind to try to recall what ChenMay had told her about the dragon.  The dragon was part of the Wizardology   classes that ChenMay gave each fall to new Apprentices.

dragon 2She looked closer, and saw the defined scales all over his body, he was majestic.

“Oh there you are” ChenMay’s voice drifted towards them, as she approached where they were standing.  “You’ve met ” she smiled as she bent to pick up the dragon.

Leonie would say later, that one minute the dragon was on the ground, and the next he was gone.  ChenMay bent down, and when she stood, the dragon was gone. ” I saw him” she would exclaim, “he really was there, his scales shone in the sunlight. ”

ChenMay would only say, “dragon’s play, dragon’s fly away” then chuckle and turn away.

oh dear, oh dear,

what a silly tale

a dragon who can be seen

 then simply

disappear

can this be true

what need I do

to have the dragon

appear to me

Leonie reading her book to ChenMayChenMay and Leonie reading July 5 2017ChenMay wearing her new hedge jog shirt. 7.5.17

are girls being girls,

or is there a story

to be told..

PL Precept # 20 Live Maintaining Equilibrium between Mind and Matter

There is a world of wonder all around us!

Crazy strange garden “art”

happy notOK I have no idea, what I was thinking of when I did this, but it happened.  Years later, I still don’t know what it was that drew me to put this “idea” together.  Knowing I did it, always gave me pause.  I thought to simply throw it out, yet it sat in the back garden for some time, a reminder that not everything I do, or come up with is “picture perfect”

hand of the past_edited-1At the time, I really liked the idea.  The glove, the hand,  I’m not sure, but it still might be out back too.  We are cleaning up back there, it is time for a change.  I know if they are there, it will be time to “let them go”

peekingI remember putting this “character” into the old wood bird house, so he would be out of the elements.  It is all overgrown now, but I saw through the branches  that he is still there.  It would require cutting away half of the evergreen now to get him out… so… he’ll get to stay. Actually maybe it was a she..

who comesThe garden guardians have come and gone, they tended and hosted the wildlife that used our land to travel safely through the urban sprawl.  There is beauty in all that nature provides, and there is an unseen world around us that some of us see, and other’s don’t. Never-the-less, the world of imagination and fantasy never fails to capture our attention, when we listen to the wind whisper softly through the trees, or hear it howl when it is voicing discontent. This week we’ve heard the heavens  bowling in celebration of a summer’s eve.  the bowling balls landing with loud thunder as they rolled across the skies.

garden past

Even the wooden sprite is peeking out from his curtain of ivy… (this was he, before this summer’s growth)  The heavy rains clear the spider webs from his face, and wash the ants away… He’s happy too.

Hmmm when I review our motley crew of garden elves and faeries… they have done such a wonderful job of keeping our land lush, green and safe from urban predators, maybe, yes maybe… I need to be selective and rethink the changes in the garden,  I need to remember why they are there.  It is not their looks that count, it is their reason for being!

PL Precept #12 Everything has a way according to its name

PL Precept # 7  Everything exists in relativity

Oyashikiri

 

 

Me and rust

If there is rust, I’ll find it.  I love the way it grows and expands, changing as it ages. Ok it is not for everyone.  To my artist’s eye it has a melody all its very own. Left to slowly decompose, erode and oxidize  it has  patina and look that is unique, like a snowflake.  At least it does to my eye.

I have a whole section of film that is all rust.  For now it is part of my private collection.  When I want inspiration, I can play it back and let each image dance across the screen in slow motion. Oooohhh so powerful.

Smiles out at her friends.. that is why that expression that has been around for ages, is so fitting here… “to each his/her own”

Happy start of the week my lovelies.  May it be successful, productive and happy.

Namaste – Oyashikiri

PL Precept #7  Everything exists in Relaltivity

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