Spikes

I love when ideas that have been in my head swimming around finally have a chance to be set free. I really love to see the idea in full bloom and the results are more exciting and better than the idea that has been hanging with me. Then sometimes I wonder why it took me so long to set the idea free. Then I think, well maybe it wasn't it's time yet.
I present to you Spike the Scarf!

Writing

I read a blog post yesterday about meatballs. I loved how this lady wrote. She took you on a little journey that kept me spell bound to the end. I had to keep reading, I had to know how the story ended. I had to know how the people reacted. She is a great story teller.
It makes me wonder if she has always been that way, does she know others sit on the edge of their seats. Does she know how she effects others.
Do any of us know how we effect others?

Not your grandmothers Pill Box Hats

So finally I dove right in feet first and created not one but 3 pill box hats. I am so excited by them. I have had the idea swimming in my head for a long time but just hadn't figured it all out. Then once I had it all figured I didn't have the time to dive into another project. Yes I was suppose to be working on something else but it felt to so good to create something totally new and fresh. I got the the big ok from my daughter which of course is the number one critic of what is fashionable and good design.
So I have slept on it for two nights and have woke up and checked to see if I am still loving the idea and designs. So far it is still a big go. In fact so much so I am in the planning stage of the next two.
Now these hats are not your ordinary everyday kind of Hat. This the kind of hat that says LOOK at me yet still has the elegance with an edge.

List

The other night I was watching So You Think You Can Dance and one of the contestants had made a list of what he wanted to accomplish that day. The last thing on the list was to make the top 20.
I thought about his list and realized it was a really great idea. Yes list have been around a long time and many people will say they are good for organization and motivation. But I saw this list different. He was using this list like a visualization. He wrote it as if it was already done.
Being inspired by this wonderful dancer I decided to start making a list everyday. I had forgotten how great if feels just to mark something off the list.

Here is to LIST!!!

Day Off

I had a day off with big plans. I had made a huge list of things that I wanted to accomplish. Funny thing is I think I actually got less accomplished than when I have less time. But one thing I did accomplish wasn't on the the list, to relax, take the pressure off and just be. I am not quite rested yet, maybe I need a few more days off! But I do feel clearer and am caring a lighter load.

picture

Birthday

So yesterday was my birthday. It is funny how you have and don't have expectations. I want to celebrate but I don't want to. This year it was a very low key bd. I worked all day which was fine. I had a lot of songs sung and many great wishes, which made me smile. It is funny looking at a # and the meaning that # holds. Then I stop and look at myself and how I feel and ACT, they are not in the same reality.
So I have made a decision I have a lot more years of creating and laughing in me. I have a lot more people to meet and inspire. On some level my journey is just beginning. Do you want to come along for the ride???
Here is someone that has inspired me
Larry Gluck taught me the tools so that I can draw anything, which makes me feel like a TRUE artist!

Hats

I have been having a urge to create hats for over a year. I acknowledged the idea but haven't really done anything with it. It is so funny when I am really suppose to do a project it will hunt me down over and over until I just say yes to it.
Yesterday the urge hit me again and I said yes. This time I started looking at the project from my point of view instead of being scared off by the proper way of constructing a hat. You see I have been learning and teaching my self all about millinery work and actually have scared myself away from the project. But yesterday I had a moment that yes the hats can be made that way but what if I created/ built them my way. The energy of doing it my way gave me freedom and the courage to start this new project. Instead of being faced with how am I suppose to do that I now see the completed hat in my mind and will know exactly how to do it when I begin. The power of seeing the whole picture before you begin!!!

Memorial Day

I was thinking of my father yesterday. He spent two years in Vietnam. As a child I didn't really understand. As a young adult I don't think I really understood. Now that I am older, have my own family I understand just a little. All I can really say is he was a great man in more ways than I will ever know. I honor him.

Memorial Day also gave me a much needed day off. It gave me the opportunity to just play and even take a nap!!

Out of that relaxation a new idea emerged. So simple yet so eye catching!!!

Trying too Hard

I have a special project I am working on, it is a great idea but I haven't put my stamp on it. I keep twisting the idea in my mind then trying it and it just hasn't flowed. It might be one of those ideas that needs to age like wine and one day I will have all the answers. And then I will think to myself or even say out loud "How come I couldn't see that answer before." Maybe I just need to approach it from a different angle hhhhmmmm

This is how my creative mind works, non stop always going. There are times when I cannot sleep because the ideas are swimming everywhere or other times I sleep out of pure exhaustion .

But boy is it fun. It gives me so much life energy to be in the space of creation. I feel so blessed.

Twigs

I had an colleague yesterday suggest I go to the beach. My response was that I would rather be working on one of my projects. He said I was a "Driven Woman. After you make your first Million then go to the beach!!"

He was right on many levels. I love the beach, mountains and nature. But right now I find the most enjoyment making the ideas that are in my head or on scraps of paper. That brings me such joy to see if it is going to work and if not what can I do about. My dream would be to have a studio so I can see the mountains and the beach while I am solving these creative problems!!!

Sometimes I wear my creations while working. This is so comfortable that I forget that I am wearing it. Twigs in Buttercup

Bits and Pieces

I don't like to throw away bits and pieces. I am sure I will use it for something. This behavior confuses the people that live with me. They just don't understand why I would keep piles of little pieces that couldn't make anything.
Well those little pieces inspired this new Textile necklace. I decides to tie them together into a chain. I wasn't sure it going to work until it was complete. I think it is a fun and funky piece. A bit unexpected. Just a splash of color to brighten any outfit!!

Fierce

So this ruffle scarf was created this past fall and I have had so much fun wearing it and coming up with new versions of it. The responses are many. As funny as , "I wondered why you would want all that around your neck but wow I now know why!!" to "this is stunning and a show stopper".

Have you ever had an idea and then created it and was surprised by the final outcome was so much better that you envisioned?

Ideas

Most of my life I have had more ideas than I could create. I would start one idea then go on to the next, never staying with one thing too long. I never understood that part of me and many times judged it as bad.

Now that I am more mature/ older I am starting to see myself differently. Not judging my natural tendencies and accepting the way I am and just going with the flow of all my many ideas, creations and piles of messes.
The other day on one of my long commutes I started thinking about one of my destinies. I recently wrote a book STRANDS and had a time of my life creating that book. I had so much fun!!! Since then I have come up with enough ideas and already created to make two more books. That is when I started to really see why I have so many ideas. Wow I wished I had know this long time of go...

So here is to ideas and destiny!!!

Favorites

This is one of my favorites from Etsy

Vintage Ribbon

Recently I was a lucky girl and received a couple of boxes of vintage ribbon, net and such. After going through it like a kid on Christmas morning I put it all back in the boxes. Then went about my business of the day. Even when I have great supplies I need incubating time to allow my creative fairies to do their work. The other morning I woke up and went straight to the Rose ribbon. Well as all things vintage it had a smell. Not necessarily my favorite smell, so off the bathroom I go. The ribbon looks sorta paperly so I test it first to make sure it is even washable. It is. So as I am washing it I decide to spray it with some bleach. hmm what if?  I let it dry and now I have this most wonderful soft wrinkled and very vintage multi rose colored ribbon. 

Now play time.

After a bit of trial an error I came up with a cool circular weave.  So that is the center of this wonderful headband

always creating

I am always in the creating mode, even when I don't want to be. I  wake up and have a completed picture in my mind of the next project to do. Or even can be be in mid sentence and see something different and have another new idea for another projects. 

Here is one of those

This very cool and hip long textile necklace is created with small piece of fabric tied together to form a chain. The fabric has a stretch so it can be worn as a choker or looped loosely around your neck. The necklace measures 65" in length. It also can be worn as a belt or a headband. Very fun!!

STORY

So I never finished writing or even telling the story of how STRANDS came to life. Well as I said in the lat story the book Tonia and I were trying to create didn't happen. The finance department didn't feel it would make enough money. So I thanked her for her hard work and her belief in me and went on with my artistic life. 

Two years later I am in the process of moving from Minnesota to California. I am staying with my sister in law and have no art supplies but have free time. Well when that kind of thing happens to me I always find something  to work with. That is when I got out some tape. plastic wrap and thread. I started creating these sheets of "fabric" I would hang them all over the walls, one after another. When my family came home they were a bit surprised. 

Each day I work on these, changing the color of the thread or cutting wholes out or even sewing shapes on it. I started getting a special feeling. So I kept working. 

I then started to create some paper "fabric" with glue, tissue paper and thread. After working with it a bit I knew I had to contact Tonia. I sent her an email with some photos. She was intrigued with what she saw and wanted to see more.

Well that is the beginning of the book. 

I will see you later.=)

Time

Time is a funny thing, it slips by so quickly. I focus my time on certain things and other things get put on another shelf. My point is that I started a story and didn't finish. In fact just left you hanging. 

So I am making a commitment that I will come and share with you more often. I hope to be a bit entertaining, a little interesting, maybe a little funny. Any way I will be here more often to share a glimpse of how my creative world works!

Thanks for hanging in there and even having the desire to read past the first line!!

Till next time

j