What I Created This Week

Being creative is not just about pages in a book. This week I took my creativity outside. Together with my husband, I created a garden table. It's just the perfect height for tending to the plants. We have added our tomato plants and bell peppers, mini sweet peppers and cilantro so far. I love this table.

Here's my koi fish that was old and rusted...and I got him for FREE....then I spray painted him. Spray paint after all is a girls best friend!  He is just the right touch of color in the little corner garden behind the garage!

Let's recycle....a wine bottle tree. I still need to add more bottles but I'm waiting for some different colored ones!  I'm also creating a wine bottle border on one of the beds so ....hmm.....guess we better get to drinking!

Creativity and Your Daily Planner

Oh all the creative people have been doodling in their planners for years and now it's becoming another "must buy" option. Simple Stories came out with an awesome planner set this year. It's binder based and has all the bells and whistles!  I love it and I had planned to buy it!  Enter shipping issues (some problem with a strike on the dock delayed shipment of said planner items until almost the end of January)


Anyway I needed a planner so I bought a simple one at Walmart for 7.95. It's spiral bound and has lots of room! There are monthly calendars along with weekly pages after each monthly calendar. Does it have all the bells and whistles? No. Does it do the job? Yes.








I use my planner weekly sections for not only appointments but also as a sort of journal so when I "look back" I can remember what was going on it life at that time!


When I found out the Simple Stories planner was available....I went to a web site to order it. Oh the lovely possibilities. After putting everything in my cart (and I didn't even add ALL the items) It was 80 dollars plus shipping. When you look at planners overall 80 dollars isn't horrible as most of them are in the 65-75 range in the office supply stores!  Hmmmm. I hesitated before hitting the order button. What will I do with the spiral bound planner I've already started?  Will I go back in time and fill the January things in if I buy the new planner set up?  Do I need all of that to do what I want to do?  It was hard but I backed away from ordering the set. I'm not saying I might not order it for next year but for this year I'll stick with the simple one I have. I realize that the Simple stories planner is designed to "do it all" That is be a calendar, a to do list, a menu planner, as well as a scrapbook. Don't get me wrong...I still LOVE it. I just don't feel like spending 80 dollars for a set up when I have something in place that's working! I hope to be able to try it in the future and see if it adds to my planner "joy" ....sigh.....that darn strike cost me the adventure for this year.


P.S. I do have several Simple Stories Snap albums that I love for photos and December Dailies and other awesome things!  It's a great line of products but I just couldn't justify the cost after setting up the 2015 planner I already had!

Create 2015

Let's face it ....2014....had its ups and downs with my creative endeavors. You'd think it would have been easier in the fall since I retired and didn't return to work but there always seems to be 101 things to do and setting aside time to be creative just seemed to take a back seat. So when I woke up this morning and realized it was time to post on The Creative Spirit blog....it felt like a chore, I had nothing "new to share", nothing new to say....I was a sham.

At first I thought I'd write about goals for 2015...and then that felt like setting myself up for "failure" again! Last year I started out with an art journal I loved but by May, I felt "behind". How can one be "behind" in an art journal? Well part of the problem was I decided to do a "system" in my art journal. Here I'll show you.....

 

I wanted to create a calendar each month and then behind the calendar would be any art pages I created that month. It's not a bad idea but here's what happened....

 

By May I came to a screeching halt....I HAD to make the calendar for the month before I could create other things that I might be thinking of or wanting to do. I had created prison bars rather than creative expression. I still don't have June-December done....although I loved making the calendars and jotting down memories. I actually still want to go back and do them. I won't worry about art work pages behind them because honestly they wouldn't be in sequence anyway but the calendars are still fun to make and a great way to document life. I have my planner so I can easily fill in dates of major things!

In 2014 I also "tried" penciling in time to create daily. Didn't seem to work for me because again either I would be so busy with other things or "not in the mood."   It just seems like when I set aside time then I draw a blank, can't think of anything to make, call it artists block but it seems more like an "assignment than creativity. I guess I'm just difficult. LOL  I know that as I started thinking about 2015 I felt frustrated because creating is fun and it helps me grow!

 

Then it dawned on me that creating is just not visual art. There are so many creative endeavors that I did do in 2014 ...they just aren't on the pages of an art journal.

 

1. I created my little shelf in the bedroom that I change up each month. It's like a little spot of art in a sometimes VERY messy room. Every morning it makes me smile to see this cute little display.

 

2. I blogged like crazy....writing is creating.

 

3. I took tons of photos.

 

4. I mused and reflected and meditated (there's no visible end product but its definitely creative)

 

5. I planned parties with tablescapes and favors and all manner of creative dishes.

 

6. I created a faery garden

 

7. I spent "cooking" days with Kelsey trying all kinds of new recipes

 

8.  I did a "Painting for a Cause" painting

 

9.  I made ornaments during the North Pole breakfast

 

10. I set up and completed some pages in the December journal.

 

I'm sure there are others, those are just the ones that popped into my head.  The point is if I follow my creative muse does it really matter if I have "pages" or canvases to show for it?  BUT with that being said I still crave time to create so I am wondering if sitting aside a "creative day" is better than a "creative hour" or two?  I don't know....sort of like a Creative Retreat. Yet I like the idea of "creating daily" so I'll need to spend some time musing about what might work for me. I also HAVE to get my creative space re-organized. I have started this large endeavor but still do not feel like it is at the stage I want to be. Of course, this is always an ongoing process so it's no surprise that I'm still fooling around with it!

 

Well I'm off to create something this morning....not sure what yet.....but I'm sure it will al unfold exactly as it should!

Why I Can't Keep Up With My December Art Journal

 

Every year I endeavor to do the December art journal a page a day. And TWO years I actually managed it!

 

 

This year we are doing PLENTY of December activities!  Like weekly Happy Hours at my house!  Elf wine....cute, right?

 

 

Photo Shoots......

 

 

North Pole Breakfast with the elves....

 

 

 

Tired Elf

 

 

Gratitude Friendship Brunch

 

 

Christmas puzzles, game day, crafts, and Christmas movies to watch!

 

 

Lego Advent calendar

 

 

 

Feliz Navidad dinner

 

 

Church Christmas program.

 

 

Painting for a Cause

 

 Concerts.

 

 

Visits from people spreading Christmas Cheer

 

 

Elf gifts

 

And there's still MORE before December 25th

 

Today we are off to historic St Charles Christmas Traditions to enjoy a day out with friends.

Tomorrow we are off to the Fox to see a Christmas Story and have dinner for Kelsey's birthday!

Monday and Tuesday...finish a creative gift with Evan for his mom, finish preparing for the Christmas Eve game,  wrap gifts, sort stocking stuffers, bake cookies, shop for Christmas Eve dinner etc. I got a bit behind schedule as I've been at the hospital every day for a week with my critically ill sister.

 

Last night I started feeling some anxiety over neglecting my December journal and then I thought....you can make time to journal or you can live life fully. Guess which one I chose? So yeah...that December journal is going to get finished in January!

 

Painting for a Cause

Last night I went to our local high school for a class called Painting for a Cause. The event is a directed painting experience and the proceeds go to a worthy cause. This year the proceeds benefit one of our local teachers who is battling breast cancer.

 

The first three photos in this collage are my painting from start to finish. The last one is my friend with her partially completed painting.  It was tons of fun and I might not have a masterpiece but it's the fun of the process that counts plus it was for a good cause.

 

Here are some other photos from the class....

 

Cresia's partially completed art.

 

Stacie's ornament masterpiece!

 

 

Such a fun night!

Christmas Journal Day 1-3

Today I'll start posting the pages from my Christmas journal 2104. I'll probably post from 1-5 days each week. It will most likely run past Christmas even though I end my journal on December 25th. That will give me a few days to get the rest posted after Christmas when things are less hectic.

December 1st.

Three new elves arrived on December 1st and they brought a game with them. I decided to use this snapshot of Evan as the focus for the page. He was so excited to see them!

December 2nd:

This was a VERY busy day so I decided to keep it simple with this patterned page and just a tiny bit of journaling. Hey when the days are hectic I figure a little is better than nothing. Journaling is not about writing tons, it's about capturing the essence of the day!

December 3rd:

 

I decided to highlight our tree on December 3rd. You can also see that I took an old card from and inserted it in (the red card with the ornaments. Then I journaled on the back of it. I love to use old card fronts in this manner...tucked into the journal they are so pretty and add a special touch as well as providing room for writing too!

 

 

Christmas Art Journal 2014

Last week I posted that I was going to use the little Snap binder I used in 2013 and just add another section......but I decided just to use another one of the Snap binders for 2014. I wanted a "fresh" start so to speak!

 

I'm doing a little advanced prep to make December flow a little smoother!  Last year I used this first divider front as December 1st but this year I decided to just let it be the "cover page" and do Day One on the back of it. This year I'm doing a Holly Jolly Christmas!

 

I have all 25 pages in the album, most are just paper or paper cut out to fit the inserts. I can switch them around some as I add pages to let them "speak" about the day!

 

 

Here's an example of one of the pre-prepped pages. This is just a generic Winter one, ready for journaling and a photo....hope we get at least one snowy day so I can use this one!

 

 

Another prepped page (which of course will be added to as the day/month unfolds) I tried to include different sizes and whole pages. I usually also end up adding some Christmas card fronts that are just so pretty and make excellent inserts because you can journal on the back of them.

 

 

And another example.

 

About the only thing I have "bought" this year for the December journal is this tape (washi-like) that I picked up at the Dollar Tree. They had so many pretty Christmas ones I just couldn't resist. I might go back and pick up some of the others at some point.

 

 

It's not too late....in fact now is the perfect time to pre-prep some pages for your December journal!