Tag: creativity

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Even More of Those Crazy Index Cards!

I just keep going, week five from 2018 is done!  The prompts were: patisserie, tarot or playing card, curtain, compass, denim/blue, picnic and mosaic.

I remember while attempting the challenge last year, that this week was the one that derailed me.  I completed patisserie, playing card and compass, and let myself get hopelessly stuck on the rest of them.  It almost happened again in my bid to belatedly finish the bunch.  The remaining four cards that I needed to make to finish week five, I did in the last day and a half.  Yes, I know, the point of a daily project is to do a little, well, daily… I’ve said it before, starting and maintaining a good habit can be just as difficult as stopping and staying off of a bad one.  I must admit, in the end, the card in this group that I had the most trouble starting is the one that I like the best –  the one on the far right, for “curtain.”

On Thursday, maybe some stitching, maybe some other rambling.

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Listening To the Leaves

When was the last time that you were in a place so quiet and serene that you could hear a leaf fall?  I have that opportunity this time of year, if there is no wind, and the cattle are quiet, to listen for the barely perceptible swish of a spent leaf coming to rest among its companions now carpeting the ground.

Being creative is not only about observing things around us that often go unnoticed – this demands a high degree of awareness of the many things in our day to day lives.  Creativity is also being able to zone in on one of those little details, and for a moment, focusing on that one thing, shutting out all the other chatter and clutter.  Then, we must find our own way to capture that moment, that detail, in a way to share with others.  Listen for that one little leaf, and tell someone about it.

Check back next week, I’ll share some more of my little creative moments from the weekend – more ICAD adventures and moments of stitching.

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More ICAD, from 2018

A quick post today… I have made some progress filling in the missing cards in my attempt at the 2018 index-card-a-day challenge.  Again, some days, I made a card like I was supposed to, other days, I skipped.  Sometimes I didn’t make the time to do the card, other days I just didn’t want to deal with the prompt.  Now, over a year later, I am determined to make something for all of the prompts.

Week three prompts were sea green, super hero, path, suitcase, legend, “greetings from” and treasure.  I especially like how that “greetings from” card turned out.  That one was inspired by vintage large letter postcards.

Week four was sky, castle, the Jetsons, tangerine, meerkat, magic carpet and garden.  Will I keep this momentum going?

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Autumn Postcard from My Corner of the World

I meant to get a post out on Tuesday.  I also had intentions of working on a promotional letter for a trunk show, or one of several ideas for classes.  In a corner rests a pile of things I wanted to take pictures to put on my forthcoming online store.  None of that happened.

I took what was to be a short walk to clear my head, and I stopped halfway up the hill to admire some fallen sassafras leaves.

While wandering in the woods, I gathered a bucket of sticks for kindling in the wood burner, and found a few twigs with lichen encrusting them, and I studied the ruffles wrapping around the sticks a bit too long.  At the top of the hill, I watched a couple of deer munching on acorns for a while, and then turned back to the west and watched the sunset in horizontal ribbons of blue-gray, peach and orange, striated vertically by the dark outlines of the trees.

After dark, I lit a candle in a pumpkin that volunteered in my garden this year and I carved a couple days ago, watching the flickering light while sipping on some hot cider.

I don’t feel that I wasted any time.

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Other Creative Paths

Creative stitching has not been happening in my world lately.  I’m trying not to get too worked up over this, as the days have gone by and I cannot get them back.  However, I have been creative in other ways – food.  Last week at my nearby produce auction, I purchased two gigantic heads of Chinese cabbage.  So far, I have made wonton soup (heavy on the cabbage), started a batch of kimchi (something I have always wanted to try making) and homemade egg rolls.  I still have one head of cabbage.  The soup and egg rolls were delicious, the kimchi has to ferment some days longer.  I don’t know what I will do with the second head, I must get to it quickly.  So my creative energy has gone in a different direction, much to the delight of my taste buds.  There is no reason why creativity shouldn’t affect all aspects of our lives.

Looking forward, I still have not picked up my goal of finishing the index-card-a-day challenges from 2018 and 2017.  I’m not going to go into great depths into this project here, other than to report my progress.  Here are the first two weeks from 2018, I managed to keep with the challenge at the time.

Prompts: roller coaster, fireworks, tilt-a-whirl, Ferris wheel, line/queue, carousel, haunted house.

Prompts: zebra, chevron, trap door, coffee or tea, magic wand, cobblestone, flamingo.

I managed to complete four of the cards for week three when I was supposed to (summer 2018).  Will I get the remaining three cards done by next Tuesday?