Creative Dawn

Yesterday, I posted about five dream jobs and after posting, a few more ideas came to mind.  So, altogether let's do ten jobs.  The additional five are as follows in no particular order.  Greeting card designer, create designs for fabrics, children's art teacher, set decorator and my childhood dream illustrator for Disney. On with today's post.  This is a card that I made one night when I was bored.  Doodling is a great way to occupy your self while watching TV and just relaxing.  I use my stash of blank cards, grab my stencils, a bunch of gel pens and start making random patterns.  Every card is unique even if the design that I choose is one I have done before, by doing everything freehand the end result is different.  This one is in green ink for a change. 

  Big sigh!  Today my creativity seems to be eluding me.  I have projects plotted out in my head but until I get a few bucks in the bank I cannot transfer them from my mind to my crafting table.  There will be something today, but it may not be my best effort.  I'm allowed an off day.  I went to my new favorite place today, the library, to try to get a bit more inspired.  I ended up with a movie and two books to read.  It's like writers block I'm sure.  It's there, but not quite.  To get my brain working, let's talk about my top five dream jobs.  It's good no matter what age you are to have dreams.  Did you know that the famous artist Grandma Moses was not 'discovered' until she was in her seventies?  Keep plugging away, your time will come.   T-Shirt design for a place I used to work  These are in no particular order: Children's Book Illustrator, kn own painter for hire (other than friends & family) T-Shirt Designer, Creative Magazin

OHHHH, AHHHH!!!  More felt!  This is piece number four.  Only two more and then the final project will be unveiled.  The orange background on this one gives it such a pop.  What better way than to cheer you up on a cold winters day.  I think the temperature today is about 9 or 10 degrees.  You gotta love winter in Minnesota!  You get chapped hands and lips, you wear fifty layers of clothes so you feel like the kid in 'A Christmas Story,' and if you walk outside with wet hair, icicles form on your head.  What fun!  There are some good things too.  Snuggling with the one you love to keep warm, hot cocoa and d bulky sweaters that cover up those leftover holiday pounds.  It also provides you with plenty of time to craft and create because you don't want to go outside!  Have a great day, I just made some hot tea and now to curl up with a good project to keep me occupied. :)

 This is a great little container.  The design is nice, but it's not my style which means that I had to change it.  I got it in a box of stuff that my grandma was just going to get rid of.  She decided to ask me first if I would be interested in taking it.  Of course!  Remember, one man's trash is another man's treasure.  Originally I wasn't sure what to do with this so I just experimented.  The final decision was to make all different designs on the sides.  The container was also the perfect size to store my paint brushes.  This was a lot of fun to paint in the varying designs.  REMINDER!!!  Never get rid of something that can be redone to match your style.  Creativity is a challenge to make something that no one else would.

Today we have a project that Jimmy Buffett's music helped to create.  Winter is dragging on and on and on.  So tropical thoughts are definitely needed.  This is a bean bag game board with a little Buffett inspiration.  Try not to get hungry when you here "Cheeseburger in Paradise."  The song is just fun and upbeat and a terrific way to change your mood.  Obviously this is the companion piece to the post from a few days ago.  You need two boards to play right?  So sit back read my blog, grab a cold beer and dream of lazy summer days grilling out and relaxing.

OK, here is felt piece number three of my larger project.  I don't know if it is the colors or the shapes or a combination, but this makes me want some jelly beans.  Yum!  I want some Starburst Jellybeans now!  They are my all time favorite!  I know on with the blog.  I have all of my pieces finished for this larger felt project, but figured you might get bored if I posted six in a row of similar projects. I am trying to mix it up, so felt is NOT on the agenda for tomorrow but something really cool is.  You better be back to check it out.   My thoughts are bouncing around today, so bear with me.  Did you ever wake up in the middle of the night with a super cool idea or solution to a problem and then forget it in the morning?  I have, so now, I keep a little note pad by my bed.  This doesn't always work because if I dream up something colorful and complex I am not usually coherent enough to transfer the basics to my notes or I just wake up and forget too fast.  I hate it w

Today, my brain was buzzing with creativity but I didn't know at first what to do.  This happens sometimes after completing a larger project.  My creative mind wants to continue on its path, but there isn't always an item that is for sure first on my list.  I wandered around the house trying to figure out what to do.  Suddenly, the idea jumped into my head when I walked in the living room...the lamp! On January 27th, I posted a red lamp with a confetti design.  Today, I added on a lampshade.  It was something that was laying around, it just needed a bit of embellishment.  While digging through my crafting supplies an idea came to me.  Yarn was the perfect material for this project.  I decided on three fun colors and went to work.  Using a large sharp needle I threaded the yarn and started to add the decoration.  The small knotted pieces of yarn run along the ribbing of the lampshade and measure about two inches apart.  Although the project was simple and quick, it really mad

Hello Monday!  Another week starts at the new job, week two of six weeks worth of training.  At least I am getting paid which is very important because my budget has been stretched to the limit and finally there is a bit of relief in site.  Hopefully soon after payday I will be able to splurge ten bucks at the Goodwill.  Of course it will be on 1.49 Tuesday. :)  Today I have another lamp project.  I cannot remember where I bought this, but it was a few years ago for sure.  This lamp has a removable bottom so that you can fill it with whatever you want.  It sat empty for quite some time and then I filled it with shells at my old house.  After emptying out the shells and putting them in a jar, (see jar of shells post), I gathered my some old art supplies.  The markers and pens had been saved for this purpose.  I knew that eventually there would be enough to fill the lamp.  My nieces and nephew were over recently and they were fascinated by it.  With an item like this the possibilities

What a weekend!  I spent it working on various projects and watching season one of Angel.  My husband stayed clear of me during the duration of my TV marathon.  You see, I went to the library yesterday and was excited to find the DVDs.  Buffy is one of my favorite guilty pleasures and had only seen a few episodes of Angel, so I figured why not!  It was a great way to hang out on a snow filled day in Minnesota.  Let's see, a bit of sewing, painting and planning my post for today and in the near future.  For today I promised to get away from felt so I painted instead.  This is part one of the set of beanbag toss game boards that I am working on.  A very nice man in our Parrot head club asked me to paint them for the upcoming event in March.  This is the same gathering that the chair and footstool are being auctioned at.  See the posts dated 1/22 and 1/24 for reference.  Yes, more tropical themed stuff, but as I mentioned at the beginning it is a snowy day and by painting something

YAWN!  A bit tired right now.  It was one of those veg out in front of the TV days and stitching for hours was a great way to relax and get the creative juices flowing. Here is part two of my felt project.  This design isn't as random as yesterdays, it is a floral motif.  I actually need to get a more materials to be able to continue on in this project.  So, tomorrows post will be something not related to felt.  I don't want anyone that is reading this to get too bored looking at only one type of craft.  Not so much on the jabbering today, here is the felt piece and now that I'm done with my blog for the day, it's off to my warm bed!  GOOD NIGHT!

Today is the end of my first week on a new job.  I am excited that I will once again receive a paycheck!  It has been interesting and I am thinking positive that it will work out.   Because of this, my creative time has been cut a bit, but I am still posting projects daily.  Can you believe it will soon be six months of Creative Dawn?  I am amazed and proud of myself for being able to keep this up. It feels like a chit chat day so here goes.  My mother in law is a sweetie and had recently noticed that there were ongoing projects involving felt in my home.  Since she always has loads of odds and ends around her house, she offered to give me some of the felt that she didn't need.  Hooray because my supplies have been dwindling and I needed more.   This is the first of I don't know how many posts for my large felt creation.  In my brain, the finished project exists and I am hoping that once all of the parts come together it looks the same as I imagined.  Part one is a simple y

Sometimes we need a reminder that no matter how old you are, having dreams and plans are important.  I always think about the what ifs in life.  No dream is too small or too big.  I would love to be paid for my artwork and maybe someday I will, maybe I won't, but it doesn't hurt to think about it.  If there were no dreams where would we all be?  Life is busy, time slips away and having a reminder is helpful.   This is was an unfinished wood plaque that was a few dollars at a craft store.  I decided to paint DREAM BIG on it to keep myself motivated.  Being artistically inclined isn't even a requirement for this idea.  Use your computer and print out a sign in a large font and hang it on your fridge or tape it to the wall.  I hung mine in my living room in a spot that I look at daily.   DREAM BIG!!! Dreams are like stars...you may never touch them, but if you follow them they will lead you to your destiny - Author Unknown  

Today, I was in a baking mood.  I just love to bake it can be so relaxing.  The only bad thing is that my husband doesn't eat sweets at all which is bad for my waistline.  The good thing is that I can bring them to work.  In my past job, all of my friends in the kitchen looked forward to my treats, hopefully the new job will have lots of baked goods lovers too.  I had all of the ingredients for oatmeal cookies except for raisins.  I scoured my recipe books and came up with a basic recipe and instead of the raisins that were called for I added peanut butter chips.  I added a little extra sweetness once the cookies were cooked.  I had small bits of both white and dark chocolate chips.  After melting them down in the microwave, I spread the chocolate on the tops of the cookies and let them cool and harden.  YUMMY!  So, tomorrow see if the new coworkers appreciate my treats.  Wish me luck!

Here is something that I picked up at the Goodwill for 1.49.  I think it is for holding keys but I decided to use it for jewelry.  I do have a jewelry armoire but it isn't large enough to hang my bracelets, they sit all jumbled in a drawer.  The paint was in good shape so to update it a bit, I dry brushed a pearl color over it as you can see the interior was left the same.  The front of the box was plain and at first I was going to paint something, but changed my mind and made a small upholstered board for it.  It works great for pins, they are displayed and easy to see.  The box can be hung up or it can sit on a shelf.  It is about 8 x 12 in size.  This is another example of something that is meant for one purpose, but if you get creative, there is always another use for it. 

Valentines Day, well if you celebrate it I hope your day is wonderful.  Don't get me wrong, celebrating love is great, but my anniversary is more important to me and also after being in the restaurant industry for so long, it just isn't a day that I hold in high regard.  Today, I am going to tell you about my husband, he is not really all that romantic, but when it counts he is there for me.  We don't do much in general in exchanging gifts and the times that I do get a gift it is special.  We all have those days when everything seems to be falling apart around you that is when he will surprise me with a single flower.  That is romance to me! I don't need overpriced flowers and dinner in an expensive restaurant.  I need my terrific husband to be by my side and love me everyday. So, here is my Valentines theme project for today.  A Michaels dollar frame and a felt stitched insert.  It is something that you can display everyday, not just for a holiday, to remind yoursel

Today  we are celebrating my stepsons 18th birthday.  As I have mentioned in the past, money is tight so I made a cake.  An awesome Jello poke cake!  If you have never tried one you should they are great.  You make a basic white cake and let it cool once it is, use a fork or skewer and poke holes all over the cake.  Make some Jello and using one cup of boiling water and a half cup of cold.  Once it is dissolved, pour it over the cake and let it chill and set then top it with whipped topping and serve.  YUM!  Check out the Betty Crocker website if you have any questions. I also drew a sign to put on the cake since you can't really decorate it.  There is also a banner that I made to hang up.   Simple and budget friendly ideas that still make a great celebration.  It's not how much money you spend it's how much time you spend together that matters.

I was just relaxing and watching TV the other day when an idea struck me.  It was partially inspired by that awesome craft book from the library, but my final project is much much cooler!  The book had used puzzle pieces to make jewelry.  I thought that the idea itself was good, but the end result was too cheesy for my taste.  I still had left over pieces from a past project, the Peter Maxx frame and puzzle.  Since his artwork is so colorful the pieces were perfect.  I grabbed the jewelry findings that I had and went to work.  It was really easy and didn't take very long at all.  I poked holes into the parts that I liked and used jump rings to attach the pieces together.  The chain was from a necklace that I haven't worn in a while.  With the star design and the fun bright colors it really makes for cool jewelry.  Now to find a place to wear it. 

Today my stepson is 18!  Until this year my husband and I had not seen him in a long time and this year we get to celebrate a milestone birthday with him.  We are hosting a small family gathering on Sunday and are excited to have the whole family together for this occasion.  I know that it will take a while to get to know him again, but I am looking forward learning about him and watching him become a man.  My husband and I are not interested in having kids of our own, so this is the closest I will get.  With funds lacking lately, I decided to make a card for him.  I hope he likes it! 

I've had this mirror for a while and I don't really remember the original color.  It was purchased at the Goodwill probably about seven or eight years ago.  When I first got it, I applied a crackle finish on it and then painted it black with a gold design.  Now, with no budget, I figured it was time to change it.  This is a design that anyone can do.  Using painters tape, rip off small chunks and stick to project.  Paint over it in any color, let dry and add more tape then paint it again.  Once you have the design and colors that you like, remove the tape and you have an interesting pattern with very little work involved.  I think this one turned out like camoflage.  This mirror is a larger size than most of the other ones blogged about.  It is 19 x 29.  I don't know what I like about mirrors so much because, I don't always like seeing myself in them but they are great for decorating and making rooms appear larger.  Quote for the day Who sees the human face correctly:

Today, I'm just distracted and not much into posting so here it is, simple, basic and no frills. It's been a while since I did something with the letter D.  This is the fourth post that will be dedicated to my first initial.  This one isn't a store bought letter, it's a plain wooden plaque that I painted.  You can get these at a JoAnn and Michael's for a few dollars and the sky is the limit with an unfinished piece of wood.  Paint, stain, decoupage, craft, burn whatever you can imagine is possible.  I may have to start adding more initials soon because the wall of D is looking kind of sad.  Look for more soon. 

Like I mentioned a week ago, Valentines day is not a holiday that is on the top of my list and I really don't send out cards much for holidays other than Christmas, but this year I am sending out two.    The first card is for my beautiful niece who is a freshman in college and lives on campus.  She loves to get mail and cards at school.  That first year away is such a time of growth and new experiences.  You get to explore the world on your own and have a bigger responsibility for your own education.  I went to California after I graduated from High School and didn't realize that lesson taught in class were not the only lessons that I would learn.  That year was so full of special memories and I hope that my niece gets to learn that as well. The second card is for my mom.  She retired last year and is now in Arizona with her husband enjoying the sun instead of the cold and snow of Minnesota.  They are only there for 4 months, but this is the first time she has been separated

 Right now you could say that I have too much time on my hands.  Yes, yes I do, but this is a great idea!  What do you get when you combine an old black plastic video cover, a scrap of fabric and duct tape?  A great little purse!  When I first came up with this idea I was looking for a book to transform into a purse but I didn't want to ruin any of the books that I own.  Luckily right next to one of my bookshelves is a crate filled with VCR tapes.  It struck me that the cassette holder could work.  I grabbed two that had the hard plastic cases and started to experiment.  I had a few ideas for how to make the handle with parts of old purses and then I spied the duct tape sitting on the floor.  This could work!  The first extremely difficult task was to remove the photo/info card and used it as a template for the fabric.  Yes, that was sarcasm.  I used a pinking sheers for the fabric since I didn't feel like doing any sewing.  The fabric slid nicely into where the picture was. 

Did you know that I like geometric designs?  I know shocker!  This oval canvas had a very nice painting on it, but it just didn't work for my style.  The cording was fraying and falling off and at just .99 it was a great deal that I knew could turn out to be something cool.  When I first got it, I wasn't sure of what it would turn out to be.  My first design just didn't work.  See, not good!  It sat for a few months until it came to me.  With the shape of the canvas something with sharp lines would be a good contrast.  A little influence from Piet Mondrian was all it needed.  The color pallet chosen coordinates with much of what I have already.   My first design, not so good!  The finished design, much better :) 

Yesterday, I went to the library and came across a craft book that had some great ideas.  When it comes to craft books and magazines, I use them more for inspiration than to make the exact projects.  My designs may be based on something I see, but never copied exactly.  There are definitely a few ideas that I can use.  The first one is this simple bookmark.  They used a plastic coated twist tie, I had a heavy floral wire for mine.  I like the wire because it is thinner and isn't as bulking when used in a book.  The beads were from a necklace that I disassembled for a different project.  It was a super easy project and there are so many possibilities in something like this.  It would be a great gift for anyone who likes to read and you could personalize it for each recipient.  The craft store is full of various beads and charms, the combinations are endless.  Now it's time to read, good thing I have a new bookmark!

Yesterday, while organizing some stuff, I came across a sketchbook that I had no more use for.  The pages were filled with doodles from past projects and scribblings that I do when I'm bored.  Before things like this are tossed, I remove the spiral binding and toss the rest in recycling.  The one from yesterday was a larger one and after I looked at it, decided it would be a cool simple bracelet.  The thought of attaching beads was something that sounded good at first, but didn't work out.  The best solution was to keep it simple.  Using a needle nose pliers I cut the binding down a bit then twisted and attached the ends together.  It is not something for everyday wear, but it is unique and would be a great addition to a fun outfit. 

A while ago, my mom gave me this jar and I shuffled it around the house trying to figure out what to do with it.  It came to me last night.  With the bathroom decor leaning towards tropical, I decided to fill it will shells.  These are also something that I had collecting dust in the house.  Now, filling a jar with shells isn't just dumping them in there and saying OK that looks good, no you need to show off the cool ones and fill the middle with the average ones.  It took me two tries to get it the way I wanted it to look.  There is a neat shelf in the bathroom that I had already decorated with shell frames, they were discount store finds from a few years ago.  I centered the jar and then on put my wedding cake topper on the lid.  I will get into my wedding stuff in some later posts, but the theme was obviously of the tropical nature.  I love painting and drawing and everything else, but it is really fun when you can quickly make something that is simple and fills a void in your h

Lately I have been on a drawing kick.  For anyone that is creative in general I think that that is normal.  Your brain gets on a roll with certain ideas and you can't change your coarse until everything is emptied out into the world.  Here is another drawing only this time I decided to use a red pen.  Apples are so simple but here they get some personality and a bit of Peter Maxx influence.  I told you to look for that.  The frame was simple black and is recycled from a fashion drawing I had done a few years ago.  Remember, no income, start reusing the old stuff!  The plan was to repaint it in tangerine shade.  It was going to be a solid color but after the first coat was applied, I like the worn look so that is how it stayed.