The Creative Mind

I spotted this in a Martha Stewart magazine and decided to use up some of my stash of black paper. Everyone who has seen it thinks it turned out pretty well. It makes me smile when I walk up the stairs. I'll store the infestation of rats to use next year, too.

I was talking to my husband about this. He thinks it's incredible how I come up with ideas. I don't come up with ideas. I got this out of a magazine. But he said that he would not look at a magazine and see a possibility that he could do that. He'd look at it and think that it was neat, but he wouldn't think that it was something that could be done by him or in his house. His brain just doesn't work that way.

I've been mulling this over. Is it Nature, or nurture? I think in my case, it is nurture. My parents had several books of activities for kids. We were free to look through and pick out things to do. We were rewarded with parental praise, participation and assistance when we did. I created a forest out of newspaper in our basement once. The trees became all sorts of settings for imaginary play until I tired of them and recycled the newspaper. My mother recited, "Woodsman spare that tree..." with great drama and bad acting as I 'chopped down' the forest.

How can I not enjoy looking at idea books and attempting to create things after a childhood filled with memories like that? I still enjoy the rewards of my creations. I don't need to come up with the ideas, I'm fine with following directions.

Creating, Darkly

I finally sat down to work with the last set of 'Greetings to Go' that I got from Club Scrap back in 2008. I love the colors of the kit, Cyprus, as it is blues, with some white and gray. The inks that are suggested for use with this kit are kind of grungy. Mushroom, Slate, London Fog, and Sepia.

I'm not happy with the cards I've made so far, because they don't feel like me. They are dark, grungy, and a bit depressing. I'll keep them, but I'm going to try to perk up the rest of the set. My usual style is much bolder and more cheerful. I think silver embossing powder will work with this paper and it won't be dark and grungy.

Paper and Digital Samples

I get several different e-zines for digital scrapping and I've found some on-line sources for sketches for paper scrapping. So, I'm regularly looking at both paper and digital samples and ideas.

Digital isn't looking so good right now. While I'm willing to admit that paper layouts can overwhelm the photos if too many embellishments are used, the trends in digital towards the white space layouts and the extraction layouts are not calling attention to the photo, but are instead calling attention to the digital manipulation skills of the scrapper.

There are times I like to follow trends. Right now, the trends in digital scrapping are not appealing to me.

Doodley Squat

I've gotten doodley squat done as far as digital scrapping this year. I got a few layouts done in February. There's one from May, one from March. Wow.

Whassup? I don't have a lot of pictures from the move out of Virginia that I want to do anything with and I didn't take a lot of pictures during the move in to Florida and the unpacking. There were a few things that I should have taken pictures of, but I didn't. Lack of pictures is not an excuse.

Lack of time is no excuse. I have plenty of time.

Lack of kits to work with? Hah! I can't even think of trying that. I have plenty of neatly organized kits on my EHD.

I haven't been totally idle. I've created 'we've moved' cards, I finished a mini-book and I've done a lot of pages on the photo carousel. But digital layouts? Not so much.

I Should Know Better

Every so often I forget that the average forum reader has very little expertise. They are capable and competent people, but they aren't subject matter experts. When I post a question on a forum, I'm usually asking something that the average person can't answer. I'm looking for information from a SME. There are a few SMEs on forums. A very few. Often, they are so tired of always answering questions that they don't bother any more.

I asked a question on a forum recently. The answers I got ignored the icon I use, which is a D300, and gave me some simple photography tips. And I do mean simple. I responded via PM. And I only PM when I'm pissed.

Patternmaking

I've created a few custom garments, making patterns from a set of measurements and a roll of brown craft paper. One of my favorites would be this dress.

It's actually an under dress and the over dress, but the two together were a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I made the under dress before I started an aggressive fitness program and I developed so much muscle that it never fit again and I had to get rid of it. I couldn't put my arms into the sleeves.

There was also a set of dresses made from this pattern.
There aren't any pictures of me in it full length that I have ever seen. But it is based on a 13th century garment, and I added a side lacing, because I was not the shape of those 13th century women. They were much more solid than I will ever be. To make the garment small enough, I just gathered it at the sides with lacing. Unlaced, it was a pullover. Laced, it would never pull over my shoulders. But the skirt swirled beautifully and the belts I wore with it were so flattering. I miss those dresses.

None of my custom dresses fit the new shape I built through diet and exercise and they went the way of the recycle bin. The old me was so small, through both frame and muscle that there was no way I could even hand my old clothing down to a child.

Uninspired

If I'm not inspired to create, I can't create. I can encourage myself to create by looking at things that make me happy. I've been looking through some of my old scrapbooks. Wow.

I have photographs of things that really are pretty neat. I've got a set of shots from Hong Kong that I almost don't remember taking. It was back in 1989, about the time I got married for the first time. We had originally planned to marry in Hong Kong, but there was a paperwork snafu and we ended up getting married in Tokyo. And there are a few fun shots of Tokyo, too.

Do I want to go back there? Possibly. But before I start going back to places, there are a lot of new places I haven't yet seen. Once I've checked off the entire list, I'll start going through the list again.

Lists aside, I've been reminded that I can take a decent photograph now and then. I have a few winners that I'm proud of. I had been thinking of trying to create something that would be portfolio like. I have not got enough to fill a portfolio, but I do at least have a start.