Under the Sea Challenge

Hi again!  I have been offline since before Father's Day!  Time, now, to get back to the blogesphere!  And just by the skin of nmy teeth for the June challenge of the Blogging Business Artisans Team challenge!  I had the project done at the first of the month, but has no internet!  So here is my project for the Under the Sea Challenge!

I had some lightly fuzzy fabric that someone gave to me and I didn't know what to do with it, so when this challenge came up, I thought it reminded me of the sea.  I made a simple zipper pouch and change purse.  I decorated it with stitching to look like a wave.  It was a fairly simple project, but I think is dressed up the plain fabric!

I think I missed the link party, but I got my challenge up inJune anyway! You can go to our team blog and see how others in the group responded to the challenge:
bloggingbusinessartisans.blogspot.com

Father's Day WW

Graduation!

This weekend held a graduation party for my granddaughter and her foreign exchange student 'sister'.  They graduated high school last Wednesday evening and had their party yesterday. I hope you enjoy the pictures and I apologize for some of the pictures.  I am having a bit of an issue with my camera!

Putnam High School Graduation at Unversity of Portland

The top row is the four senior class officers; Courtney is second from the left, and on the end in this next picture. 



Katrine walking back to her seat with diploma!



Then the party!!!

Fun days!

Not a DNA String - WW

Got Judge?

(This is the fourth and final article on Creativity.  If you are interested in the others in the series, please click the "Got Creativity?" tab on the home page.)

While we are not discussing juried assessments today, it does matter how you judge yourself and who you 'stand next to' for the personal judgement process.  I was often known to tell my kids, as they were growing up, not to judge themselves by their friends' standards.  I encouraged them to be individuals and stand on their own principles. This, obviously, involved developing their own principles! In regard to creating--developing your own principles and standards is a personal thing too.

For me, I see some work, at first glance, that looks sloppy to me, because my standards are different.   This causes me to think, and remind myself to NOT judge other people's creativity by my personal standards!  I've  learned a lot over the years and my tastes have mellowed.  Used to, I didn't like any textile seam exposed,  because that is the way I was taught.  Now, younger people like that unkempt, raw style and can appreciate that the article was handmade, rather than judging it's quality by the particular technique of sewing.  This really is quite refreshing! I have learned something new. I can still enjoy a non-exposed tidy seam but currently look at a particular creation through new eyes of appreciation.

Personal creative style is just a manner of expression that is unique to the individual. There is no right or wrong to creativity. We would never tell a young child that he/she (how's that for political correctness! -- see the other series article on correctness  :)   could not use pink or lavender for the tree leaves in his/her picture;  we allow for creativity, especially in children! Why not in ourselves?   Settling into your own creative style and developing your own standards takes work and in the end, brings you a peace regarding your own style.  This peace also brings confidence!

Have you tried something new today?  And are you at peace with it?

Owen's B-Day!

It is actually time for my 4th and final post on Creativity, but, I would like to postpone that until tomorrow because I want to share my weekend festivities with you!

One of my grandchildren had his 5th birthday Party yesterday.  Owen is his name.

I had told some of my blog friends the story of Owen shopping with me at the yardage store, a couple of weeks ago.   I wasn't planning on buying him anything when we went to the store.  We were there with his mother to look for yarn and for me to look for a particular fabric that I needed.  When we were looking, Owen found some fabric with his favorite toy on it--Transformers!  He wanted me to buy it!  So I purchase it and told him I would make him a quilt for his birthday, which was only a couple of weeks away.  We went home and he helped me pick thru my fabrics for some matching fabrics to use for the quilt.

Then the next day, he asked his mom if his quilt was done yet!  He kept asking daily; he had no concept of how long it takes to make a quilt!  Here is the quilt with the blue square quilt side and the backing of the transformers fabric:

On the quilt side, in the middle of each block, I stitched the number 5 so he will always remember when he got his quilt!

He finally got his quilt yesterday at his party, and he says that he likes the transformers side of the quilt best!

 P.S.  My hubby, his grandpa, wrote and illustrated a little book just for him, another delight of the day!

Got Risk?

(This is part three in a series on Got Creativity?  Here are the links: Part one and  Part two.)

(This insallment is combined with Friday Features.  Enjoy my shop picks from other Etsy sellers.) 


Are you on your way to earning that blue ribbon at the guild show or county fair?  Are you at a place where you can take the risk of filling out that first entry form for your favorite piece of creativity?



Maple Nut Goat Milk Fudge by udderlywonderful

Once you "reach your stride" in your creative endeavors and once you get over the urge to be technically correct at your craft, then you must decide if you want to risk showing your creations (wares) to others.  Oh, it is one thing to show what you have done to your family.  Sort of like a child playing their first little clarinet solo in the living room for aunts and cousins.  Of course everyone is going to "ooh and awe" over the presentation and give lots of encouragement, but when it comes to that first recital, that is a very different story!




Charm by charmsmaker

So, once you have "perfected" your craft as we talked about in the previous article here, you take a risk in presenting it to others, whether that be at a craft show, an entry in a juried show or possibly presenting to wholesale buyers.  It is a bit scary to expose your efforts and stand ready to hear comments, endure silence or suffer rejection.



Pillows by vintagepoppiesshop

Once we are assured that our own creation is finished and "good"  in our own eyes, we can endure the occasional remark or lack of remarks about our work.  We have confidence and learn to not take things personally; we progress from a safe semi-closed forum to a risky open show of our own perceived genius.  We creators are all in various stages of this process. Accessing where we are and how to proceed is the key. 

Are you willing to risk taking the next step? 

That is the question.

Next  and final article in the series here.