What's new at The Loft - Episode 116

MY LIFE IS A CREATIVE WORK IN PROGRESS

I have many times in the past looked over how my focus has shifted from one hobby to another, and wondered what my friends and family must think of me.  I think my husband and kids find me insane at how my creative focus keeps shifting from one pursuit to another.  In moments of self reflection I have discovered a lot of things about myself and why I am the way I am, and why I can't seem to focus on any one creative pursuit.  Instead of relating this always changing focus to some sort of attention disorder, I have begun to realize that it stems from a desire to learn. 

I've never been one for school but I was always most happiest in school in my classes that dealt more with a creative nature than traditional subjects and book reading.  These many  "hobbies" (my latest passion is mini art quilts) I've pursued over the years come from my own endless need for creative learning.  More over they are an integral part of who I am, even in those times in my life when they could only be seen in the smallest measure.  I love to create, and it's a passion that burns inside me brightly and at times is so strong that I find it difficult to focus on other things.  On days when I'm so tired and stressed from my "day" job that all I want to do is pop in a movie and relax I still find myself planning out my next project, looking for inspiration, or just trying to work out problems with projects I've put temporarily on hold.  I also often find that some of my best ideas or problem resolution comes when I'm trying to drift off to sleep, which is why I have gotten into the habit of leaving a note pad and pen on my nightstand.

The downside of course is that there always comes a stumping point of for me in the creative process.  In my own desire to be more artistically creative, I find that original thought becomes more and more of an obstacle.  I want to do something creative but I confound myself with too much thinking about originality, instead of more creative "play".  But inspiration sometimes is just a matter of how you look and interpret things, or perhaps just a matter of recycling what you have already done.

 For those of you who have read my blog for a while, you are probably already familiar with my 2010 ATC 3.6.5 challenge, where each day I made one ATC per day for the whole year.  Two years later staring at 150 of those cards which now sit at a giant piece of wall art in my living room, (photo of canvas) it hit me that I had 365 days of inspiration and original thought so why not just change the medium and turn some of these into mini art quilts.

One of my favorite ATC's I created during the challenge was an original piece called "The Tree of Four Seasons".  I selected this one because it was colorful and the design could be replicated simply.

Here is the fabric version, what do you think?

The muslin base was divided into quadrants for one color to represent each season and then I began layering the specific colors to their quadrant.I used a free motion stitch to hold all in place once I had the background looking the way I wanted to. 

I used embroidery floss and more free motion stitching to embellish the circles.

 

 

This was a fun project and really helped jump start more creative ideas I have for additional mini art quilts which I will share with you in the future.


MORE RICHARD ARMITAGE

Further to my June 12th post which had a small segment at the bottom called "My Mother's Day breakfast with Richard Armitage" I was so excited to learn that Mr. Armitage would in fact be attending the San Diego Comic-Con 2012 in July to promote The Hobbit.  My hubby attended Comic-Con again this year but unfortunately he did not win the lottery for a spot in the autograph signing line, however I was more than thrilled when he sent me a few photos back. 

Here's a poster of Mr. Armitage in costume as Thorin

They also had a life sized replica of Mr. Amitage's character from The Hobbit on display.

Of course here is what he normally looks like without the beard

Thanks for stopping by today.  I'm working on a few new concepts and look forward to sharing more of my work in the future.  As always comments are welcome so feel free to send me a note and let me know what you think. 

Bye for now

What's new at The Loft - Episode 100

Teaching the Art of ATC's

I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to teach another class at the Scrapendipity Retreats - Scrapajama weekend crop on Sept. 24th.  I love making ATC's and I try to promote the art form to a wider audience by teaching classes that I like to call "ATC's for the Everyday Scrapbooker."  In my classes I try to teach how to make simple ATC's using basic paper crafting skills so that the ATC's can be traded or used in layouts.

For this class I designed 3 new projects and to get things going, we started with a simple little apron card, which utlized some basic paper crafting like faux stitching and featured an over skirt that opens.  Mine had a little quote in it, but in scrapbooking it can also be used for a more personal message or other journaling.

And here is how I used my card in a layout.

The second card was a small Halloween inspired stained glass window, and for this project my students learned to use a paper crimper, stamped on vellum, and worked with Sharpies.

And here was how I used the card in a layout.  In my layout however I changed the ATC back by using a black "spooky" text paper, to better fit the theme and provide more of a contrast to all the orange on the page.

The last project I created was actually an ATC or Tag holder.  The holder was made from a small paper bag, and the students had to fray linen, use distress ink to dye lace, and worked with pan pastel chalks.  I was really happy the way these turned out.

And here are some pictures of my students working hard.  

I really enjoy teaching, and I hope I can continue to do so in the future.

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you come back soon.

What's new at The Loft - Episode 96

Teaching the Art of ATC's

My good friend Brenda who owns Scrapendipity Retreats, was kind enough to let me teach at her July weekend crop a few weeks ago.  The croppers that come to these fun weekend retreats tend to be more traditional scrapbookers so I tried to gear these introductions into the world of ATC's specifically to scrapbookers and show them how they can use these ATC's in traditional scrapbooking layouts as decorative embellishments or as a means of adding journaling to their layout.  This is the second time I have taught a class for Brenda and really enjoy meeting people and introducing them to the possibilities that ATC's offer.

Here are the projects that we worked on for the class I like to call "ATC's for the Everyday Scrapbooker"

This cute little purse opens to reveal a quote, but could include your own personal journaling.

Here is how I used mine in a sample layout

This little pocket card, has strips of paper for journaling, but it could be cute to cute out some keys and journal on them and put them in the pocket.

I modified my strips a little to add more decorative pizazz to my sample layout.

This card is a cute curtain frame for a small picture.

 

Here are some photos of the class itself.  These were a great group of ladies and they were a lot of fun.

I'm already working on the projects for a new class hopefully I will be teaching in September.

That's all I have for today, thanks for dropping by and hope you come back soon.

What's new at The Loft - Episode 92

Transition and Evolution

Creativity is not to be located in one state of mind, one room, one type of person, one individual. Rather it lies in the transition points between different ways of thinking. If we close the doors, we will never hear the full story.  - Chris Bilton

I got involved in scrapbooking with simple motives.  It started with the desire to document our first family vacation.  And while I still love the concept of it, I have found myself drifting away from it more and more.  I had started to feel limited creatively and began to branch out in other directions.  ATC's consumed an entire year of my life and I absolutely love the art form.  My challenge of making one ATC card per day for an entire year opened my eyes to other mediums and materials.  It forced me to think outside of the box more than I have ever before and explore other art forms for inspiration. 

And since that time I have further stretched my wings and branched out into new areas, and have gotten back to a few creative outlets that I had long ago given up on. Mixed media and assemblage are some of my newer areas of exploration, along with art journaling. 

In scrapbooking I couldn't really bring myself to use journaling in any of my layouts.  I didn't like laying out my emotions or thoughts for the world to see.  I wasn't comfortable in sharing these with others.  In fact in all the layouts I had done over the years only one layout sticks out in my mind that used journaling at all, which was more a story than any emotional disclosure on my part.  And though I am happy with the layout and the story I told,  I wasn't comfortable sharing the memories for fear of judgement.

Art journaling for some reason is different to me.  I suppose it is because when I first started working in my journal it was with the intention of not really sharing the work with anyone.  I loved and still love the creative freedom of art journaling.  Of using art and language to relate thoughts and feelings in new ways.  And while the thoughts, messages, and emotions expressed are not always conveyed in my own words (I like to find meaningful quotes) they show what is in my heart.  And what has surprised me the most is that as my exploration in this medium continues I have felt less nervous about letting others into those areas of my heart which I have put walls up around.  The process has become somewhat of a therapeutic one for me in many ways.  It has allowed me to evolve and grow as an individual and an artist in my own little world.  My voice, while small is beginning to grow.

“Live your life from your heart. Share from your heart. And your story will touch and heal people's souls.”

- Melody Beattie

Recent Entries 

Speaking of ATC's

Here is one I recently made on a mini stretched canvas

And stay tuned as I can't wait to show you what I'm doing with those 365 ATC's I made in 2010.


Thank you for allowing me to share with you.  I'm glad you came by and hope you come back soon.