Creative Dawn

It is February!  Five months down and seven to go.  I sometimes have doubts, but I'm sure that's normal, the creativity will prevail.  To my husband and I Valentines day isn't a big deal.  We have both worked in the restaurant industry and usually worked on that day.  To me, our anniversary is the most important day of love for us.  Sappy huh!  I would much rather spend the night at home than to go to an overpriced restaurant with a bunch of other couples.  Many people do celebrate so here is a quick Valentines themed project.  Guess what, it's felt again but felt is cheap and easy to work with.  I cut out the hearts in white and then stitched them onto a red background.  A bit of stuffing was added while sewing to give it more of a three dimensional effect.  I had cut out two pieces of red and put them together leaving an opening for the stuffing, then attached a ribbon to hang it with.  Quick, simpl...

    As of right now I have pretty much zero money.  I am starting to scour my home for things to do.  I don't usually like to get too personal, but I currently do not have a job and don't qualify for unemployment.  Believe me, I am looking.  So, I am asking if anyone is out there, let me know if you have any items that you would like to give new life to.  I will continue to create things every day no matter what even if I have to paint the kitchen sink.  OK, enough with the sob story and on to today's creative endeavour.  This frame is 18 x 24 and was something that I got a while ago at the Goodwill for 1.49.  It was plain white and the artwork was old and dated.  Purple was the color chosen to repaint the frame.  Now for the really challenging part, I don't have any paper that large, but I wanted to do a cool drawing.  What I ended up doing was taping a few pieces of paper together for my base design, it didn't ha...

Ah winter in Minnesota!  We have had a lot of snow this year and this design is snowflake based.  There is a contest that I am entering this week for snowflake design.  You can use any medium that you would like the only requirement is that it be no larger than 12 x 12 for display purposes.  I doodled until I came up with this 'snowflake.'  At this time I don't know if I want to submit the black design or the one that I did in the blue outline.  Both are very unique.  I have to admit after making the first design, I traced it for the second one, but as an artist sometimes you need to do that to get things just right.  If anyone is reading this a comment or two would be helpful in my decision.  The deadline is on Wednesday of this week.  It would be nice to get some kind of recognition for my art other than friends and family telling me how talented I am.  It keeps me going, but sometimes it would be nice to hear it from s...

The other day, I went to my local library.  As I was browsing through the stacks, I came across a craft book with Mary Engelbreit designs.  Her artwork has always been something that I enjoyed and my style is similar to some of the things that she does.  I don't know about other artists, but sometimes when I look at things like this, it sparks ideas for me.  They influence my art and that is why many times a certain artist may be reflected in the project of the day.  I also checked out a book on Peter Maxx so that will probably be something that I will be blogging about in the near future.  My posting for today is a drawing and the frame it is in was a thrift store find.  The frame is 8 x 8 and was purple to begin with.  Originally I painted it black, but after I drew the designs, decided that red with yellow dots was the way to go.  With the influence of Ms. Engelbreit, the color scheme was perfect.  Hey Mary, if you ever see...

I know, another mirror, but I love them!  Goodwill bargain once again, can you believe it?  For reference, the size of this project is about 6 x 18.  There was a coffee cup design that wasn't bad but after looking at it closer, I realized that it was a piece of paper glued onto a board.  I took the mirror apart to paint it and liked it better without the insert on the top.  It still needed something so I added this letter 'D' ornament that I had.  To begin with it was painted tan and then the spots were painted on in purple.  The finished project remind me of a leopard print.  To add on the ornament I used a small eye screw and then used a couple of jewelry findings to attach the letter.  Oops, forgot to clean the mirror. 

Sometimes you can find the perfect addition to your home but the color is off.  Can of paint to the rescue!  For less than ten dollars you can find the color that works for you.  Most thrift stores have an abundance of out of date objects that need a face lift.  I got a dusty pink lamp for 1.49 on Tuesday at the Goodwill.  I also forgot to take a picture of it when it was pink.  To go with my bold hued decor, I painted it bright red and then added small dots in various colors to get the look of confetti.  A lot of what this blog is about is redoing old objects to fit in with what you have.  You can also change what you have to get an updated look.  This is great when you have almost zero for a budget.  So far neither of the lamps I've painted have shades, but once they do, I will post the pictures.  Yeah!!!  More projects!

Today, I was bummed out and feeling down.  It can be difficult to come up with something creative when your stressed about your life, but after sulking for a while, I decided to make a project that is cheerful.  The frame was .69 at a thrift store and the felt I always have laying around.  This project has been in my head for a while now and tonight seems as good a time as any.  The frame was painted a few weeks ago, but the right word had not come to me yet.  I figured it out this afternoon.  It was smile!  I cut out the letters and blanket stitched it all together then looped the felt thought the frame and sewed it together.  I think it will hang in my bathroom right by the mirror as a reminder everyday. Here are few quotes that hopefully will make you smile ---A laugh is a smile that bursts - Mary H Waldrip ---All you need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt - Charles M Schultz (my childhood idol)...