Wednesday, April 27, 2016

My Journey As A Creative Designer - Woodworking and Beyond #1725: Creating Every Day

OK.  It may appear that I have been ‘slacking’. 



Between cutting mountains of ornaments, having a cold/flu for a couple of weeks, and having some family things to take care of, it may seem that I have somewhat fallen out of the habit of posting here each day.



There may be some merit to that, as it is no secret that I haven’t been here every day as I have for the last several years, but that doesn’t really mean that I am not creating. I just try my best to keep my posts here relevant to some sort of creating and I fear that showing piles of cut ornaments over and over may bore some of you.  Funny how we start to filter ourselves like that… 



I said from the beginning of this blog, some 1700+ posts ago that I would not only blog on woodworking, but also the other creative aspects of my life. Since then – over six years ago – I have not only increased my productivity, but also the scope of my creative endeavors. It makes for a wonderfully fun and interesting life. 



One thing that I figured out is that it is rare that a person does only one type of creating. My friends and customers often are a lot like me in that they dabble in many different types of media and love to discover new ways to feed their creative souls. When I began blogging on Lumberjocks.com (a woodworking site) I chose the name for my blog “My Journey as a Scroll Saw Pattern Designer” because that was my main focus. But as the years passed and I branched out to other aspects of creating, I sometimes feel that the title is somewhat misleading on all sides, and should be a bit more encompassing as to all the types of things that I design and make. But that isn’t always easy to do. I have to think about it. 



As I find myself not posting as much due to the things I mentioned at the beginning, I am also seeing a surprising, albeit slight drop in my own production. I often mention that sharing things here in public with you all isn’t only for you – but it helps me sort, focus and keep on track for myself  which is something that is of the utmost importance when one is self- employed. It is to me, anyway. So I will try to do my best to stop in here each and every day during the week at least to keep you posted on what I am doing, no matter how 'mundane’ it may seem to me at the time. As always, you can skim over that post if it doesn’t interest you. But hopefully you will see a little flicker of inspiration in it or it will encourage you to do some things on your own. I hope so, anyway. 



This week started off with a bang for me. On Monday I slightly injured my footie while at the gym. I won’t trouble you with the photos, but long story short – I dropped a 45 lb weight square on the top of my foot. You can bet I did some 'dancing’ and saw constellations that I never thought existed. It swelled terribly initially and I thought surely it would require a trip to the hospital. But it 'settled down’ and I iced it and it actually is feeling pretty good today. I can walk normally without any pain and while it is sore on the top and slightly puffy, nothing is broken and I am fine. All is well again. 



I spent yesterday with Keith’s mom for the day. She needs round the clock company (precaution) for the first 10 days after her surgery, although she is doing splendid. The pre-op exercises she did for the past months really seem to be paying off, as she is cruising around with her walker faster than I have ever seen her move. What a great success story that is! 



I brought some things to work on while I was there for the day, as she is a crafter as well and we always like to create together. So I will show you my progress to inspire you and let you know that all is not lost with me. I AM still working on stuff and I have lots to share with you in the near future. You are going to love the new ideas I have! (I HOPE!)



Over the weekend, I created these cute ladybug toys for my cats. I used my lovely Valdani threads and black wool and used some wonderfully colorful pure wool felt that I got on Etsy from Bear Dance Crafts.



The bodies are filled with catnip and the head has a bell in it. The wings are sewn on freely from the body to add interest and so far the cats love them. Richard already gave his toy a “drink” (SIGH!) which to him is the mark of  'acceptance’. They were fun, fast, and a relaxing project to make. 



Yesterday I did some work on my 12 Days ornaments by Lynne Andrews. This is the beginning of “Day 5” for me, which is my favorite. I can’t wait to show you all how cool they are! 



I invite you to join our Facebook group “12 Days of Christmas Ornaments - We are Making Them!”  You can join as a participant, as we are doing this at our own pace, or join us as an observer (who I like to refer to as a “cheerleader”) to see the beautiful variations that everyone is doing on this lovely design. We are having fun and personally, I have made many new wonderfully creative friends through the group. It is great to surround yourself with other creative and positive people. It sure helps to make life happy. 



I also worked on my new embroidery sampler designs by Di VanNiekerk.  You may recall that last year I did a beautiful sampler that Di designed called “A Perfect World”. You can see the photos of that result here in my Picasa Album.



This one I call “Every Flower Has a Soul” and I am working on Panel 4:



I learned a new stitch for the red Hollyhocks yesterday. I didn’t think I could do it, but I tried and it looks pretty nice:



I got a bit better as I worked on it. The stitch that I learned was a “Cast On” stitch that I used to make the circular flowers. I am proud of that. 



I love the texture and colors of Stumpwork and Ribbon embroidery. It is truly relaxing for me and I hope to create my own kits to sell soon.



So you see, even though I have been lazy posting, I have not been idle. I still have more things to show with stencils, watercolors, pencils, paints, woodworking and other media that I have been playing with. I just need to keep things organized and work efficiently to get everything out here to you. That is where this blog helps me so much! 



Thank you to all who follow me regularly. Welcome to those of you who are new. I hope you come back often and comment too with your own thoughts and ideas. I think that by sharing out thoughts on creating and crafting, it helps us enjoy what we do even more. 



I saw this quote on Facebook today and I wanted to share it. 



I thought it was worth sharing. 



Have a beautiful Wednesday and enjoy all that the day brings to you! You will be much happier for it! 



Until tomorrow … 



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