30 Days of Creativity: Day 30 – A creative tool kit

Seems fitting to post this on the last day of the month and during a Leap Year, too. My bonus day…

Day 30: Make a Creative Tool Kit!  Compile your favorite words and phases of inspiration, swatches or fabric and color, drawings and doodles, and images into a little book you can pull out anytime you need to be inspired!

So there’s my virtual “creative tool kit” at Pinterest. Now, if you’ve been on for a while, have you noticed a lot more activity these days? Lots of people jumping on the Pinterest wagon, right? Would it overtake Twitter as a social network – I don’t know.

If you’re new to the Pinterest scene, I view it as a virtual bulletin board, or visual bookmark tool. Way easier for me than bookmarking within my web browser. It captures a picture from the website you’re bookmarking. (But shh…. let’s not get into the Pinterest copyrights and legal issues right now.)

As for a tangible creative tool kit, my essentials are: good pens, pencils, glue stick, scrap paper, colored pencils, camera. Place a few things in your purse if you have some room, or maybe dedicate a tote bag. I switch a lot between a canvas tote and scrapbook paper-sized tote. If you run into me while I’m waiting for my kids in the school pick up line, you’ll probably see some of these items in the passenger seat.

You can never have enough journals. In the journal that’s shown in the upper left corner (happens to be my SMASH book), I actually have some swatches or fabric and color. In another journal, I have drawings and doodles, and layout ideas for greeting cards, drawings, and home improvement and sewing projects. And, my gardening journal! I have one of those too, great spot for pasting pictures from magazines, and dreaming of a spectacular yard and garden space. Sadly, it’s been neglected this winter.

In the corner of the picture of my little pile of artsy-ness, you’ll see a stack of small cards. Here’s a close-up.

I would write out some favorite words if I came across something I liked. It’s still kept together by a small length of embroidery yarn, and it would hang in my high school locker. (Have you figured out that I’m a packrat?). It’s fun looking back at the quotes I was drawn to in my teenage and young adult life. And, gah, my handwriting was so nice then. With all this typing, my penmanship isn’t quite what it used to be – at least to me, it isn’t.

Funny, some things never change – I still love collecting quotes, words of hope, of inspiration and self-discovery. And, I think this whole challenge has helped me discover some passions that have been lying dormant.

Thanks for following me through this (very drawn out) 30 Days of Creativity exercise. I’d love to hear your stories, too. Feel free to leave a link in the comments, or just write if you’ve done any of the challenges – one of them or all of them!

30 Days of Creativity: Day 29 – A Favorite Feature

Day 29: Photograph your favorite feature.

It took me a while to figure out my favorite feature, and not because there’s so much of myself I like. Complete opposite – I’ve always had a hard time with my body image. Like since I was a kid. (There was a kid in elementary school who called my “Ghandi lips”. That set me back as a second grader.) Let’s not get into body image and all that… it’s all self-acceptance and I admit, I work on that constantly.

After some thought, it came down to my eyes. Pretty sure I have my mom’s eyes.

1999: Wedding Day with my parents

I have big, dark brown eyes. So big, that if I make my eyes wide (like I’m surprised or mad), my family says it looks like my eyeballs will fall out of their sockets. It’s scary and funny – my kids cover their eyes, squirm, giggle, laugh and scream and sometimes, run away. My husband thinks it’s weird… hahaha.

As a kid, I thought my eyes were black because I couldn’t see my pupils. (If you’re Asian, you may have experienced this.) Then there’s the day when I discovered that my eyes (irises) weren’t black and I stood in front of the mirror looking and searching. (A lot of Asian kids do that too.) It’s mesmerizing seeing the brown coloration and maybe flecks of another color, if you’re lucky. I don’t know what I was hoping for – maybe gold?

Take some moments to think about your favorite features, and if you’re so inclined, stop by and comment. Love to hear from you.

 

30 Days of Creativity: Day 28

This was way harder to commit to than I originally thought. Maybe I’m just not that great at sitting down for a good amount of time to do every challenge. Maybe I don’t like the restriction of topics, even though they’re fun topics. 30 Days of Creativity, I’m not going to give up on you yet. I appreciate those who haven’t given up on me either. Been trying to follow the other “30 Days” bloggers that linked to the original post on Craft Critique. How is everyone doing?

Day 28: Paint with your fingers.

I used gloves. Is that cheating? I think safety first. My paint is acrylic, but some had ingredient warnings on the label. You would probably wear gloves, too. This needed a little something more…

… okay, I likey now. Reminds me of my Nick Bantock-inspired card. Except there I used a brush and rubber stamps (instant artistic flair). I think I should explore more paint and ink projects – you know, when I have more time. *sigh*

 

30 Days of Creativity – Day 27

Four challenges to go in the 30 Days of Creativity

Day 27: What is the usual theme of your work?  If you tend to create joyful, bright and optimistic art, then try to create something somber or dark… or vice versa.

I never considered if I have a usual theme in my work, but if I had to describe it somehow, I guess it would tend to be on the positive side and easily understood. Though I love abstract and sometimes eerie art, I haven’t had much success in that. Here’s an attempt at something off my norm – a little darker, maybe? And using magnetic poetry.

What’s your usual theme?

30 Days of Creativity – Day 26

Another installment of 30 Days of Creativity – Day 26: Write, draw or paint something with your non-dominant hand.

It was funny explaining this exercise to my kids, and I found it somewhat easier than I expected. My little one told me a few times to switch hands to make drawing easier. He can be so logical. Drawing felt a little weird, and I had to think a lot more about how to form letters, which way my pen was going. Would this be like being in a reverse universe?

30 Days of Creativity – Day 25

We’re coming around to the home stretch of 30 Days of Creativity.

Not a typical “30 Days of Creativity”. I have my good days and then there are not-as-good days. Recently I had my annual checkup, and my doctor couldn’t be happier with me – steady weight, great cholesterol numbers, light exercise, fair diet (still love good food). But, some symptoms were bothering me, my doctor and I talked, and now I’m researching fibromyalgia. I sort of suspected it – achy muscles from a little horseplaying with the kids and pain from simple activities. Like, you know you don’t feel well, but you ignore it, and then one day you wake up and think, “What happened?” I guess I would have chalked it up to aging, except, I keep thinking I’m doing all sorts of things to stay active and healthy, but still feel like… crap. On the flipside, my acid reflux issues are under control.

Unloading this right now seems so anti-holidays. But, really, the symptoms are manageable, and I’m thankful, so thankful, for my health when it could be so much worse.

Day 25: Write a simple Haiku. (5-7-5)

Getting older, my
Body betrays my spirit.
Hypochondriac.

 

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