Top Three Killers of Creativity

                                  (Card from 52 Little Questions project)

Thinking about creativity today and thought I'd share some thoughts about what seems to be the top runners for creativity killers!

3.  Time:  This is what most people use as their number one excuse for not being creative. I've done it myself quite a few times.  Time is certainly a factor in getting creative. Sometimes you need more "down time", sometimes you need more time alone to really "brew" something creative, or sometimes you just need time to actually sit down and DO something creative.  (Just since starting to write this I have had to stop, feed the dogs and get my grandson a yogurt)

2. Perfectionism: This can be a biggie. Let me say there are certainly creative things we want to look really good. Certain crafts that we are gifting might be one such item. Remember, however, there is more to creativity than crafty things. Don't get me wrong I love crafts and do them but they are NOT the "heart" of creativity. Getting messy, playing around, trying something totally different, making "mistakes" and just getting lost in making something is the true soul of creativity. People miss that when they want perfection. I've posted plenty of things that aren't "top notch". Well, let's face it some are down right BAD. I post them because they were fun not perfect. Sometimes I visit other blogs and I am overwhelmed by their totally awesome stuff. I feel inferior. Sometimes I learn from it and sometimes it stops me in my tracks.

1. Clutter:  I don't care what people say about creative clutter. It's a BIG killer of creativity. I'm not talking about a simple messy desk or table....I'm talking about heaps of stuff piled in disarray every where. I know some people say they work best that way. However when I start a project and can't find something I KNOW I have it kills creativity. I use something else and regret it or I simply stop altogether. When I think about starting a project and don't have a clear space to work in, it kills creativity. Do I get lost in clearing the mess or just find something else to do? When I have a few minutes to create, perhaps while listening to TV and the items I want are scattered everywhere, its just to easy to flop down in the chair and forget about what I was going to create.

These are my top three creativity killers. I'm sure there are others or perhaps yours are slightly different. Regardless, if you haven't been creating lately, it's time to start thinking about why. You'll be glad if you remove the roadblocks and jump back in.

52 Little Questions #7

So question 7 is:  "What song describes you?"  Not what is your favorite song or what song talks about a situation in your life. BUT what song actually describes you. Not as easy as it sounds so I had to go back to an old standby song that I always said was like me....

Emotional Girl

Overall the cards over all are going well. I had covered a few cards with background paper so it takes less time to do them
but now I am thinking of trying something different. I want to try some collage backgrounds to make the cards a bit more artsy and also so that all the cards aren't alike in any way. I'll still do some background papers at times like I've been doing but off to experiment with another method.  See you soon with the next card....and What song describes you???

52 Little Questions #6

Question 6: What is your favorite candy?

 

Simple questions .....require.....simple answers!

Make It Monday: Valentine's Box

 

 

It's Make It Monday,.....and the feature for today is Evan's Valentine Box....

Here is the finished product....but how did it get to this point?  Wrapping papper from Dollar Tree and diecuts and pom pom garland from Michaels were the basic supplies. The foundation is a shoe box...with an opening cut and wrapped in the shiney red paper.

Tape, a glue stick and a hot glue gun were also needed supplies. Along with a empty wrapping paper roll.  The team worked hard to turn the box into Lightening McQueen.  You can see the side of the box here and the tires!

Evan's pretty happy with the end result. As usual frugal finds can be used in fun and colorful ways!  I'd love to see any Vanetine's Day posts you are posting, so please comment and provide a link!

14 Things I Love Tags

Here's Make It Monday's project. It's not finished yet but it is getting there and I wanted to share it with you in case you wanted to make one up for Valentine's Day. You could change it to 14 Things I Love about You...and give it as a Valentine.

The tags were purchased at Michael's dollar spot and I used two patterns. They came in packs of 12 so I needed to use two designs since I didn't have two packs of the same pattern.  The front of the tags are decorated with 14 things I love and on the back there will be some journaling about each thing.

You can see from this pic that I will need to add the journaling. Perhaps I will do that during the Super Bowl game....you'll be reading this tomorrow...and excaliming about how I might have taken my eyes off the TV for a even a few seconds to journal. HA

I created a little title tag using tags punched from the bigger tags, one pattern on each side. One side says 14 Things and the other side says..I Love. 

Although there's not a lot of room on the tags, I did enjoy this project. Perhaps simple and quick flows easier and the tiny space keeps one from getting "crazy" about the embellishments. I have some tweaking to do on a few more tags...artistic wise...BUT all and all I like the little book. It can hang from a small hook, lay on the little desk with the Valentine's Day display or perhaps I'll find a tiny tin to keep it in. I thought I had one that I bought a long time ago at Targets dollar spot but it is a tiny bit too small....so I will continue keeping my eye out!

52 Little Questions : #5

So Question Five is What is the last book you read?   Seems an easy enough one...

I feel like I need to be getting a little more creative...artsy with these cards....so Watch Out next week....I'm going to get a little crazy. The trouble I had this week....is exactly how do you get artsy with a simple answer...?  The book is Executuve Privilege and I attempted to get artsy by tearing out a small picture of a big city. The WHO is my attempt to convey that the book is a mystery...Who did it?

Make It Monday: Button Heart

 

It's Make It Monday....so I thought I'd try something for Valentine's Day. Well while browsing in the craft department I came across some packages of buttons and since I have been seeing button art everywhere I thought I might give it a try. Let's just say I was surprised that it was a little more difficult than you would think!

First I drew a light outline of a heart on my wooden plaque (which I had painted white)  Then I attempted to glue some buttons to make the outline.

 

 

 

Here's what it looked like after a little effort. It was hard to get the buttons to fill the center of the heart without too big of gaps.  I am wondering if I should have painted the heart red on the plaque so that the spaces wouldn't be quite as obvious. IDK.

 

Then I decided the heart on the plain white looked a little "unfinished" so I used a sponge to add a little pink.

 

I'm still not totally satisfied with it but I will definitely try something with buttons again...they are fun to work with. Have you seen the Christmas Trees created out of buttons? I'm thinking a jack o lantern might be fun to try with orange and black buttons. Well, my heart is nothing fancy but I put in on display in the little desk.