Thoughts for Thursday: Go After It With a Club
“Creativity comes from trust. Trust your instincts. And never hope more than you work.” —Rita Mae Brown (b. 1944), writer, social activist “A look at the history of the word {Inspiration} gives a glimpse, however, of humbler roots. The word comes from the Latin spirare, meaning “to breathe.” Inspiration, then, is a process of drawing from the world around oneself in order to create, just as our bodies draw from the air around us to take in oxygen and sustain life… …Inspiration doesn’t always come rare and intense like a lightning bolt. There are steps we can take to meet it halfway. The great cubist painter Pablo Picasso said, “Inspiration exists, but it has to find us working.” American wilderness writer Jack London put it in less delicate terms: “You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” Excerpts taken from GOODNEWS “inbox inspiration” article on American Artist Norman Rockwell on the Foundation For A Better Life website. Click here to read the full article.
Thoughts for Thursday: Triple Play & A Studio Sneak Peek
“If you’re trying to achieve, there will be road blocks. I’ve had them; everybody has had them. But obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” —Michael Jordan (b. 1963), retired professional basketball player, businessman “Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.” —Marie Curie (1867-1934), chemist, physicist, Nobel Prize winner “If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.” —Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672); writer, poet, first woman to be published in Colonial America It’s a Triple Play TFT and I am going to be slightly selfish with today’s TFT ‘cuz I need to. Usually I pick a TFT because I come across a quote or idea that means something and is somewhat thought provoking or challenges us to better ourselves personally or creatively. Today’s TFT hits home particularly close. On Monday Brent’s boss laid off half of the company (which was 3 people) and Brent was one of the lucky buggers. It wasn’t a complete shock. On Friday they had a company meeting and we sensed that layoffs were coming but we were thinking weeks, not a weekend later. Life is not all doom and gloom in the Grotegut household. We’ve reached a bump in the road but I am grateful that we’ve been saving our money and building up our food storage for when crazy things like this happen. 🙂 Brent’s been actively looking this week and we are hopeful that it won’t be long before he finds a decent job again. (PS -If you’re in Utah or Salt Lake Counties and know of a full time accountant position, drop me a note.) If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant… & prosperity would not be so welcome. STUDIO UPDATE { FINALLY!} I have been crazily working on my studio this week. (And Brent has been working on the house in the evenings… I even took a bath in my “new” bathroom!!) It feels like my body is making a decent recovery from my issues with anemia and I have felt the URGE to dejunk and clean my space and get it all decorated and comfortable to create in. Brent finished my new GORGEOUS custom InkStak last weekend and I just need to pick out the right shade of milk paint for it. (I was so excited that I begged Brent to hang it on the wall and loaded it up with my inks already.) I am working on scraping paint and umpteen years of gunk off of a fun antique window to hang in my space and have spent the last several hours purging the closet in my studio. There’s a custom bookshelf that’s waiting to be drawn up and built, but I don’t think I want to wait that much longer to share my space.
{Seven} Favorite Things
It’s been a really wonky week (more later) and I was feeling somewhat bummed on Tuesday morning and I got a comment from my blog via email that became a bright spot in my day : ) Charlene from Scrapcircus gave me the Kreativ Blogger Award earlier this week… Thank you Charlene!! BTW, you gotta check out Charlene’s awesome paper pieced scrapbook pages. I LOVE her witty captions and titles and whimsical layouts! SOoOoOoooo the tag is the “7 Favorite Things” tag… Here we go (in no particular order except #1) with 7 of my favorite things (so hard to pare down!): 1) Brent & Sadie {aka My Family} & doing anything with them 2) Photography & My Camera 3) Stargate SG-1 & Stargate Atlantis {I’m.such.a.geek} 4) Being Creative {creating things by hand and decorating} 5) The color RED 6) Thunder & Lightning Storms and the smell of RAIN 7) Laughter I am nominating the following (more than 7.. buwahaha!): Nona Davenport, Kathi Carlson, Sparkle Smith, Renee, Juliet A, Sonja, Amaryllis Briggs, Jeanne Tomshack, and Michelle Durheim. Ok girls… list your 7 fav’s on your blog and go tag some bloggers… You can click on the award graphic to save a larger size one for your blog. Last night I made an “about me” photo page for a friend of mine who’s daughter is applying for a college scholarship… Here’s a snippet of the header… I had a lot of fun creating the masks for the letters and capturing the photos of Jordan.. Good luck Jordan! 🙂
A Hot Date, A Sale & A Winnner!
A Hot Date! I am so stoked! Tonight Brent and I are going to the Symphony in Salt Lake City! Last week we heard and advertisement on the radio for Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” and I casually mentioned to Brent that that might be fun to go to… well he called me at work later that morning and asked me what price of seats I wanted and then called the box office and purchased aisle(he knows I prefer aisles) seats on row 9!! How sweet is that!? I am super excited! He’s coming home early and we’re going to dinner before the symphony! When I lived in Germany I was able to attend symphonies and ballets and operas all the time at very, very low prices. Sometimes if we were downtown and shopping we’d stop by an opera house and see what was playing and just pop in and buy tickets… blue jeans or not. We’d just go whenever we felt like it. (I sure miss it!) [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPxaWendWNA&hl=en&fs=1] … A SALE!So ScrapGirls.com is having a sale!!! It’s a pretty decent one, too. Shop now and receive 18.7% off almost everything in their boutique! … & A WINNER! I am late posting the winner, I know… and I am very sorry. Last night we crashed early and I totally forgot about it until I was laying in bed with my contacts soaking in their happy little case …. Drum roll please! (Or you can tap your fingers on your desktop…) Congratulations! Random.org selected comment #2 of 19 comments on this post. Comment #2 belongs to Nichole.
Thoughts for Thursday: The Journey
“The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination.”—Don Williams, Jr. (b. 1968); novelist and poet The other day we were having a discussion in one of the Yahoo groups I belong to about written instructions and following detailed instructions (totally along a different line of what I’m thinking here) but it sparked some thoughts in me when Susan Chong said: “Regardless of knowing exactly how to recreate a piece of art, the art can be appreciated for its color, composition, textures, depth, and overall appearance. Many ideas and inspirations can come from a piece of art even if you don’t have the detailed instructions on how to reproduce it. Sometimes it can be fun to find a way to recreate the piece using your own ideas!!” I think that you can’t really substitute anything for that satisfying feeling of having figured something out. Do you know what I mean? Sometimes it is super fun to sit and experiment and figure things out… and usually I end up going off on tangents and the project looks “a bit” different than I’d originally set out to re-create. I think we learn a lot along the way and discover more of our creativity. Have you ever started to re-create something and then ended up with something totally different along the way because you took a different creative direction? I tried “re-creating” a really cool wreath that I saw in a store this fall and came up with something totally fun on my own. I learned a ton and enjoyed the creation process. If you have, we’d love to see what you were doing… Feel free to post an inspiration piece and your creative masterpiece!
A Lady’s Set: Bracelet and Cards
I have wanted to share these for forevvvvvvvvver! I finished them back before Christmas but couldn’t post them because the recipients (Tammy, Valerie & Ashley) read my blog. I work with 3 of the most wonderful ladies in our women’s organization at church. It is a pleasure to be able to serve with them. I wanted to surprise them this Christmas with a little something fun. The excitement was magnified by my friend Tammy who kept bringing up and asking me about “those pink and white cards you made on your blog”. LOL! It’s super fun to make something for someone when you know they’re gonna love it. 🙂 I simply can’t get enough of the elegant simplicity of these cards. The possibilities are endless!!! A little cardstock and some bits of leftover patterned paper and you’re good to go. (I know, I know… I just love them and I won’t post about them again for a long, long time.) I am mostly excited about the personalized, custom paper bead bracelets! I tried to choose colors that the recipients liked. They are super fun and ridiculously easy to make. (Tutorial coming.) I saw them online at PTI and liked them, but did not like the idea of using Mod Podge on a wearable item… sticky gooey mess if it got sweaty or wet. You can add glitter and sparkle to any paper of your choice. You don’t even have to worry about the pattern being “out of date” because all you’re looking for is the color… The pattern gets rolled up nice and neatly as it becomes a bead. I personalized each bracelet with a tiny metal charm engraved with the recipient’s first name initial.
Really Cool Personalized & Customized Place Settings
I LOVE when guests comment on my blog and when I follow their link to their blog and find treasures there! Today I followed a link to Rebecca’s blog and she had shared this fabulous little video from Shelli Gardner of Stampin’Up! This awesome idea is so simple and can be used to glam up a girl’s night dinner or a bridal shower or ladies lunch or even a family birthday party….. If you don’t have the die cuts Shelli is talking about you can use any punches or die cut plates you have… get creative and have some fun! Thanks for sharing Rebecca! http://pandora.bonnint.net/video/embed-1.php?id=4573672
Thoughts For Thursday: Resolutions
Happy New Year everyone!! I was reading a few blogs early this morning and my friend, Heather, posted this on her blog. I thought it was pretty neat and it seems that the tips are fairly reasonable and doable so I thought I’d share it here for today’s TFT. Making huge resolutions can be somewhat depressing and overwhelming… so read through these tips and, if you want, pick a couple that suit your fancy, work on them, then come back and pick a couple more. 🙂 Inky Smiles! 40 Tips for an Exceptional New Year… Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile. It is the ultimate anti-depressant. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day. Buy a lock if you must. Buy a TiVo (DVR), tape your late night shows and get more sleep. When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement, “My purpose is to__________ today.” Live with the 3 E’s — Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy. Watch more movies, play more games and read more books than you did in 2008. Make time to practice meditation and prayer. They provide us with daily fuel for our busy lives. Spend more time with people over the age of 70 and under the age of 6. Dream more while you are awake. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat fewer foods that are not manufactured in plants. Drink plenty of water. Try to make at least three people smile each day. Clear your clutter from your house, your car, your desk and let new and flowing energy into your life. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip,energy vampires, issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out charge card. Smile and laugh more. It will keep the energy vampires away. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present. Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey is all about. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, and wear the fancy underwear cause today IS special. No one is in charge of your happiness except you. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: “In five years, will this matter?” Forgive everyone for everything. What other people think of you is none of your business. Time heals almost everything. Give time, time. However good or bad a situation is, it will change. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need. The best is yet to come. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up. Do the right thing! Call your family often. Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements: “I am thankful for __________.” and “Today I accomplished _________.” Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed. Enjoy the ride. Remember that this is not Disney World and you certainly don’t want a fast pass. You only have one ride through life so make the most of it and enjoy the ride.
Thoughts For Thursday – Merry Christmas!
“And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? [Christmas] came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.” —Dr. Seuss (1904-1991); writer, cartoonist Rejoicing in the Birth of our Savior and Wishing You & Your Family Inky Smiles and a Blessed Christmas!
Faux Stamped Candles
I am feeling loads better today. It seems that the iron is actually kicking in and I am feeling human! YAY! I even went grocery shopping for last minute food items that I’d forgotten on the “big pre Christmas” trip on Saturday. I planned on posting this yesterday but got caught up helping B in the woodshop with a couple of Christmas projects for two small girls…. This year I wanted to give something fun and simple for neighbor gifts with the usual treats. I picked up these candles on a super duper clearance after Christmas last year at WalMart. Luckily my wonderful husband was on board with the project! Neither of us wanted to do the traditional stamp on tissue paper method since we were doing these in bulk so we found some fabulous pre-printed tissue paper at CostCo and decided to make Faux Stamped Candles. As always, you can click on the photos for a larger view. Step 1: Gather your Materials Beg your hottie husband to help… Note the happy husband supplies… Dirty Jobs DVD & a couple remotes! 🙂 Step 2: Measure and cut tissue paper to fit your candle. I’m using a 3” pillar so my tissue paper needs to be 9.5” x 3 3/4”. Step 3: Measure, cut, and tear ( 1/8”) DP for candle band. Mine measures 9.5” x 1.5” Step 4: Make a note of missing supplies and beg sweet, hottie husband to find them and fetch them for you (because you’re sitting in a recliner trapped behind the craft table in your family room). Measure and cut wax paper (4” x 12” or so). Steps 5 A, B , C & D: (A) Cut out circles and mats for sentiment. I used my Nestabilities classic circles and classic circle scallops. (I purchased them from myself… I have more in a variety of shapes and sizes for a great deal if you’re shopping for them.) (B) Stamp background snowflake, (C) Stamp sentiment in darker ink, (D) Add glitter to sentiment with a glitter pen. Step 6: Make assembly pile of candle parts. Step 7: Realize that you’re a dork and left more supplies off the supply list and beg your darling, sweet, hottie husband to find and fetch the forgotten goodies (because you’re still trapped in the recliner behind your craft table in the family room). Steps 8 A & B: (A) Roll candle on versamark pad. This sticky ink helps the paper stick to the candle for eas(ier) positioning. (B) Adhere tissue paper to candle and smooth out wrinkles. Steps 9 A & B: (A) Wrap wax paper tightly around candle. (B) Heat up heat gun and blow at wax paper to melt tissue paper into candle. Keep the wax paper held tightly to prevent bubbles and drips. Be careful not to burn your fingers (yeah, yeah… I’m a slow learner!). Step 10: Peel off wax paper and use heat gun to touch up any spots that need to be smoothed out or finished. Steps 11 A & B: (A) Place candle in a craft tray and use heat gun to quickly melt the wax on the top of the candle. ~ Seriously, you have to be quick at this… it melts fast and it cools fast. (B) Sprinkle glittery sprinkley stuff (I used Beadazzles by Suze Weinburg) all over the top. You may need to heat again to help them melt in. Step 12: Finish it up by wrapping the DP around the candle and attach the sentiment with foam pop dots/squares. I used American Crafts squares because they are my fav dimensional adhesive. Voila! You have a beautiful, simple, relatively quick gift. 🙂 We made a few variations with different tissue papers… it’s loads of fun! You can also stamp on plain tissue paper with reg stamps.. just be careful about using water based inks, especially reds, because they can sometimes run when the wax becomes liquid and the images can blur out. PS/Disclaimer/Warning – for decorative use only… remove paper if you’re gonna burn the candles. Merry Christmas & Inky Smiles!