Creativity Unleashed

2011-08-07T13:26:00.001-04:00

Shutter Love Smiles

2010-06-16T21:45:00.001-04:00

My purple bear made it to the week’s top 10 photos! Thank you, Trendy Treehouse! This week’s topic is “Smiles”.

My submission is of my daughter Christa Joy and husband Josh when they were newly engaged!

Shutter Love

2010-06-08T18:10:00.001-04:00

Last week I was tickled to have my picture of Julius chosen as the #1 pick over at Trendy Treehouse for Shutter Love Tuesday with the theme of “Pets”. This week’s theme is “Stuffed Animals”…my only stuffed animal is the little purple bear I sleep with every night!

Join the party…link up at:

Marie’s Strawberry Pie with Cornflake Crust

2010-04-29T19:06:00.001-04:00

We have been friends with a wonderful older couple for quite some time…she is 89 and he is 93. I go to their house once a week and help them with household chores. We visit a lot while I am there and she always prepares a lovely, yummy lunch for us. One week she made this special pie. Reece was with me that day and we came home raving about Marie’s pie. I recently asked for the recipe and she happily shared it with me, although she couldn’t find the original and had to tell me how to make it by memory and shared her memories of the pie as well…of serving it at a club meeting of some sort and the club president loved it so much that he teased the club for three months by posting a little bit of the recipe at a time in their newsletter until the entire recipe was posted. She is one of the most creative people I know and this pie seemed like a good post for “creativity unleashed”.

Here’s what you will need:

1 lb. of strawberries
9 oz. cornflakes (I made two pies from an 18 oz. box, but you could use more or less and still get good results)
1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
2 T. sugar and 1/4 c. sugar
2 pkts. unflavored gelatin
2 c. HEAVY whipping cream
2-3 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. vanilla (Marie said “a dash”)

All measurements are MOL (more or less) and can be adjusted according to what you have on hand and still get a great pie. This pie isn’t rocket science!

Start off with crushing the cornflakes. I did this by opening the bag a tiny bit at the top to let the air out and then rolling it with a rolling pin. It’s okay if there a few flakey bits left, just try to get them crushed up mostly.

Add 2 T. sugar to the cornflakes and pour into a bowl. Melt the stick of butter and pour over the flakes/sugar and mix thoroughly. Press into a buttered pie dish. It may look like a lot of crust and that’s OKAY. The crust is what makes this pie so fabulous! Bake the crust for 12 minutes or so at 375…you want it slightly browned, but be careful not to burn it! While it is cooking…mix the gelatin packets into 1/2 c. boiling water and stir, stir, stir until the gelatin is dissolved; set aside to cool. Wash the strawberries, reserve a couple for garnish, then chop and add 1/4 cup of sugar to them (MOL depending on sweetness of the berries). Set everything aside while the pie crusts are cooling, letting the sugar and berries blend and the gelatin cool.

Start whipping your cream. While it whips (if you have a stand mixer and can walk away), add the gelatin mixture to the strawberries. It will look like this:

Add lemon juice and vanilla to this mixture, stir.

Once your whipped cream is stiff, like this…

… fold the strawberry mixture into the cream. Plop the mixture into your pie crust, garnish with the reserved berries and ENJOY! The crust is CRUMBLY and that’s okay, just scoop it out anyway onto the plate. I may try to work on that aspect of it at some point, but right now I’m enjoying it the way my friend made it.

Sharing this post at…

I get by with a little help from my friends…

2010-04-25T23:51:00.001-04:00

My friend’s son is getting married next month and I was invited to the bridal shower. I wanted to do something unique. Wandering around the internet, I was inspired by this post at howdoesshe.com. Thankfully, I have a wonderful friend who was willing to bring her vinyl cutter to our homeschool co-op meeting on Tuesday and print out the vinyl needed for this project. Thanks SO much, Sharon!

I picked up two 18.5 x 8.5 picture frames at Walmart, cut the back insert out of one, sandwiched the vinyl between the two panes of glass and placed them in one of the frames (saving the other frame for some other project someday…I bought two frames so I would have two panes of glass). Used E6000 adhesive around the back edges of glass to hold it all together. Loved how it turned out and the bride seemed to like it too!

The duck who won a makeover…

2010-04-14T19:57:00.001-04:00

Okay…he didn’t REALLY win one, but he certainly needed one, the poor ugly duckling! I took the before picture after I’d already started roughing up his surface with sandpaper. Sprayed him with metallic silver and then matte black and then ruffled his feathers a bit (roughed him up some more with sandpaper). I think he is a vast improvement, even though it is time to put him away for the summer. A friend gave us this guy with some other fireplace accessories. I think I’ll wait to tackle the gold wood holder until the fall…

I also forgot to share a couple of other projects I completed. These were both birthday gifts for my sister-in-law.

She mentioned that she “wants one” when she saw the coffee cup warmer I made someone for Christmas, so I made her one out of a felted wool sweater sleeve…in her colors :o)

This next present I said “It’s kind of dorky…” while she was opening it. She mentioned to my mom one day that she wished she had a way to “mark” her dishwasher as to whether it was clean or dirty. I explained to her that this is designed so the dark side is on top when the dishes are dirty and the light side is up when it is clean.

It’s made from recycled felted wool from sweaters and an fridge magnet I picked up at the thrift store for “whatever”!

Sunrise the day before Easter 2010

2010-04-10T15:07:00.001-04:00

Baby Tag Blanket

2010-04-10T14:40:00.001-04:00

Made this little tag blanket for a friend’s new baby. I bought the pattern on clearance at Walmart for 25 cents (with a few other projects included on the booklet), but there are several free tutorials online for them as well…like this one.

I used regular cotton print fabric for the front and flannel for the back.

Jayne Cobb Hat from Firefly

2010-04-10T14:24:00.001-04:00

I realize the colors are brighter than Jayne’s actual hat, but it was the best I could do with what was available to me. This hat was a gift for my daughter’s birthday…she’s a huge Serenity/Firefly fan!

Pattern is from Crafster.

Here’s my son singing “The Hero of Canton (The Man They Call Jayne!)” to his sister.

What I've been up to...

2010-03-02T13:40:00.001-05:00

Finally!

2009-11-12T16:47:00.003-05:00

I have been locked out of my blogger account for a few weeks now and going round and round trying to get access again. As the cooler weather comes, I've been turning my thoughts towards creating again...thoughts of sitting by the fire working on projects. Cozy!

A few things I've dabbled in lately...

I'll post some of my favorite photos next time! It's good to be back :o)

Photography and Totally Rad Actions

2009-08-21T12:29:00.006-04:00

Photography! That has been the crux of my creative time over the last few weeks. It has been fun. Time consuming, but fun!

I am doing a project called Life 365, where I am taking a photo a day every day to journal a year in my life. I've been posting my pics over at Facebook, but here a few of my favorites:

(Picture of Julius linked up to Shutter Love Tuesdays at Trendy Treehouse)

And apparently that is all that scribefire will let me post right now, but you get the picture (pun intended!). I'm having a blast with the project and learning a bit more about photography in the process.

I'm really enjoying the ability to use actions in Photoshop. I recently discovered Totally Rad Actions and have been loving the free samples off their website and hopefully will someday be able to have the $ to purchase more...my favorite is Boutwell's Magic Glasses which really makes photos pop! They're having a contest right now and giving away their new Photoshop plug-in "Dirty Pictures" which is an insane plug-in that adds TEXTURE to photos...FAST. Totally different interface than just running an action and incredible results. I want it! :o)

A tree

2009-06-27T13:01:00.010-04:00

So...I have had to spend a lot of time doing photo editing recently and that has left me with less time for pen to paper, or needle to yarn or anything else really. I've also been having trouble with concentration issues and I'm working on finding out the root of the problem. It doesn't seem to be affecting my creative side, just my ability to think through things. I have some ideas to the cause, so I'm making some changes in my life to see if I can get some improvement.

Anyway...here is a watercolor word art I did for my dad. He preached on Father's Day and we went to the early service (8:30 am). As he was preaching on Psalm 1, I was inspired to do this art...so I came home and did it for him for Father's Day. I would change a few things now that I look at it again, but he liked it and I enjoyed the creative process involved. Done on 10x14 Montval 140# paper

On the photography front, I have a few favorites lately. I am really enjoying getting more proficient at using Photoshop...learning shortcuts mostly and using some actions. I love the actions over at The Pioneer Woman blog - they are awesome and FREE, although I would pay for them if I had to because I love using them so much!

Precious little girl from the Purity Ball at our church:

My Wedding Ring (for a photography challenge over at Weeds and Wildflowers)

I cannot take credit for the photography on this one - Tyler took it - BUT I do take credit for the editing!

A few layouts I made recently (also done for Weeds and Wildflowers challenges...I think I have found my new digi-scrapping "home"...love the community there and the products aren't too shabby either!):

That's it for now!

Slacker!

2009-05-14T12:48:00.024-04:00

That's me! I have actually created...been creating, but have I taken pictures? Why no, of course not! I'm off to take a few pictures...be right back. :o)

Here is the watercolor journal I was telling you about before...

figured out how to do the coptic stitch binding (with the help of this video) and finished it off as a birthday gift for one of my favorite teens.

I loved how it turned out with the hand torn pages.

I'm definitely doing this again! Scored some big sheets of Canson's Watercolor paper on clearance at Jo-Anns a couple of weeks ago for 99 cents a sheet. Yippee!

The altered book I told you about...
I picked this up in the library discards for 25 cents. It actually looks like an interesting book and is about the Bronte sisters. Interestingly, as I looked through it, I saw things that were meaningful to my life.

This page I made with a pocket. It spoke to me as I did not expect it to and I actually cried while making these few pages. We experienced great heartache last year, grievous loss and pain...when I feel ready to, I will write about it and slip it into this pocket.

THEN just a few pages over was a reminder of HOPE.

No, I don't agree entirely with the author's statement, because I think there is so much more that God wants to do in our lives than just "do our duty, be brave", which is kind of a "suck it up" attitude, but I think her statement of comparing our trials to what Jesus did for us is profound. And she is right...if we will let it, our pain will bring us closer to God. It is for this reason that we can be truly THANKFUL for pain and hardship in our lives.

And the VERY next page is entitled "The Creative Years". This was remarkable to me, because being creative has been a gift to me, therapeutic as we have dealt with our feelings and emotions.

I am currently reading the following books(all of which I borrowed from my local library on interlibrary loan...woohoo!):

Warm Fuzzies - Hmmm...I have created a cupcake pincushion from this, which I am too embarrassed to show you a picture of because it is UGLY. Mostly because it was a test run project so I did not use my best materials on it. It actually turned out like it was supposed to look, construction wise, but my color choices and embellishment are ugly. Do you want to see it anyway? Okay, I'm going to take a picture and you are entitled to laugh at it, as I do...

(See my felted i-cord, Aunt Martha? AND I couched it on!)

The Creative Life - Just getting into this one...Danny Gregory has a wonderful way of inspiring. A down-to-earth attitude and reminds you that it's OKAY to not create a masterpiece every time you journal. I am inspired and will probably do another bound sewn journal once my bedroom is in order. Soooo much organizing and cleaning and repairs to do at our house right now. The washing machine is broken, the dryer overheats, the vacuum is not functioning properly and the floor in the laundry room MUST be replaced soon and don't even get me started on the yard. But I digress and it's not really what I want to think about right now, so moving on...

The Decorated Page - this book...well...I'm excited when I read this book because I love working with lots of different media. I guess I get bored with projects easily, so that's why I have to do lots of different things...you can't tell that by reading my blog, can you? Check it out and hopefully I will show you some creativity that stems from this inspiration.

So my cat's favorite toys are these little mice with rabbit fur on them (don't ask me why...seems like they could've put mouse fur on them...just kidding).

When I saw this pattern I knew I wanted to make Sophie a handmade toy.

or two...

Yes, she is spoiled...I mean the gray one is made out of CASHMERE and is by FAR her favorite of the two mice. She is a weird cat and will play fetch with her mice if we throw them for her (when her royal highness is in the mood, of course!). Her favorite game is when we sit on our bed and throw a toy mouse into the bathtub. She will go get it and bring it back for us to throw again. One day she came up and dropped a mouse on my keyboard while I was on the computer. "PLAY WITH ME!" After I made her the first of these mice, she awakened me one morning by dropping the mouse on my face! "PLAY WITH ME!"

I made wool dryer balls for my mom for mother's day using wool yarn from a sweater I bought at the thrift store and frogged (unraveled it for the yarn). They turned out nice, but of course I forgot to take a picture of them before I gave them to her!

And finally, while I was taking pictures I glanced over and saw a little box belonging to Reece and dumped it out for you to see.

He LOVES making guitar picks out of old gift cards. When I shopped for his birthday recently I always asked at the checkout "do you have any old gift cards for my son to use to make guitar picks?". Everywhere I went they were happy to either find an old one or just gave me a new one...it was a small thing, but he loved getting them.

Back from vacation

2009-04-16T19:31:00.005-04:00

I have tons of pics to edit from our trip to Big Bend National Park in west Texas! I made sure while we were away that my hands were not idle for long (although after a day of hiking up and down mountains, I could barely lift my head, much less make my hands move!).

I crocheted some little dish sponges to go with my MIL's birthday gift of spices for her kitchen. I didn't take a picture before I gave them to her, but the pattern is here and I used a bright rainbow colored variegated cotton:
http://gherkinsbucket.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/crochetdishsponge.pdf

I had grand designs of taking my watercolors everywhere and sitting and painting plein air (outside), but we were just too busy. I did however paint a couple of postcards on location, which was fun, even though they are not great works of art! One went in the mail and one was hand-delivered to my mom when we got home ('cause moms appreciate things like that, ya' know).
I also have been working on a couple of journal/book projects, which I have yet to take pics of, but will do so soon. One is an altered discarded library book and another is a handmade watercolor sketch-book...I'm stuck on the final stitching process of that one and have to do a bit of internet research to figure out how to finish it off.

Ta-ta for now!

2009-03-04T16:38:00.016-05:00

It's been a good week. I never fail to marvel that God's GRACE is sufficient to meet our needs.

I missed showing a bead that, while not my favorite, is Reece's favorite and he chose to wear it everyday. It was supposed to look different...I messed it up, then changed it to cover my goof AND then burned it in the torch, but he likes it and I'm glad he does, so I'm showing it here!

My sweet Aunt Martha sent us this cute valentine's card:

She designed this card series and named them "Out of Bounds Angels". I love that title! It's time I gave a shout out to her blog Reconciliation, where she talks about the cards and regularly shares her musings and heart. She also sent me a vest pattern that is really neat and suits my body shape...I like the "b" view best and can see potential for creating something lovely.Love you, Aunt Martha!

Played around with some watercolor lettering using negative space letters. Nothing spectacular, but it's one of the ways I "played" this week. I liked doing it though and think it warrants some practice and perfecting.

Reece has been working on a woodcarving/burning project in Boy's Life Skills class at our homeschool co-op. It's coming along nicely, I think!

Knitted and felted I-cord, sewed it together and began embellishing it. Not finished yet, just still deciding on what to do to the bracelet next. Beads?

The clipboards I talked about making in an earlier post. Melanie, which one do you want? I was leaning towards the pink and brown one, but you tell me! Did you want a journal too or just the clipboard/pen?

And I finally got around to making one just for ME! Ward loved it and told me to put it in my Etsy shop when it opens, but I loved it too and decided it would be MINE. The color in the first pic is the true color...don't know what is up with the color in the second one.

Crocheted hand warmers. Had to make these up quickly because I knew I was going to be taking photos outside yesterday and couldn't find one of the other pair I made. They crocheted up in about an hour a half because I used bulky yarn and a big hook. Simple pattern if anyone is interested...let me know. They certainly helped yesterday in the frigid cold!

I bought a few cheap wool sweaters at thrift stores this week and following this tutorial from Betz White, came up with this:

The gray is an oh-so-soft cashmere felted sweater (and I hung the scrap in my blazer for the picture...heehee!). The green was merino and it felted up so luscious and thick...quite a bit thicker than the melton we used in class, Martha. The burgundy is actually from a rectangle I knitted, felted and cut. I really liked the end result...what do you think?

I know this is image heavy, but I wanted to show you everything I'd been up to. Now I have to send my camera off for repairs, so I may be absent for a bit...maybe all these pictures will hold you over. But just in case they don't, here is a picture I shot yesterday of my friend Shannon's new baby, Gabe. Shhhhh, don't tell her I did them...I snuck him off while she was teaching drama class and want to surprise her. Three different edits - which do you like best?

Beads!

2009-02-24T22:16:00.007-05:00

Finally, some pics of my favorite beads from the bead class.

Same bead as above, only hanging in the light:

For my patriotic mother:

Playing with fire...

2009-02-18T20:50:00.003-05:00

I have been having a blast this week making glass beads and sculpture! Sunday evening after class I was really nervous because it was much more difficult than it looked. After two more days of melting glass and making beads, I am comfortable at the torch. Some techniques still elude me and that's okay! I will get them eventually or else I will just leave them out of my work and do something else LOL.

I don't have pictures of my beads yet, but I've made a few I am excited about so far. Arriving at class each morning is fun because we get to pull our beads out of the kiln and see the finished product. When they go into the kiln the colors are different because the glass is still hot, so you don't get a true view of your work until they are cooled. Can't wait to see how my fish looks tomorrow morning!

Our instructor is Kelly Shatto and she is a hoot as well as being a great teacher. There are five students in our class (4 ladies, 1 gentleman) and we have had a good time "playing" together.

More later!

Busy week!

2009-02-13T13:54:00.004-05:00

What a wonderfully busy week! Tuesday was homeschool co-op day, which was FULL and then we went to surprise Christa Joy for her birthday on Wednesday morning.

Tuesday night I made Christa Joy's birthday present, a clipboard:

I need to make another one today (Melanie!) and I am planning to start selling these on ETSY in the next couple of weeks, along with some other ideas I have!

I have been knitting and dreaming and those things should surface for your viewing over the next few days.

For some reason, Ward thought it was absolutely hilarious that I said my "creative door has been opened." He has teased me mercilessly about it ever since...hmph!

Tonight we take pictures during the church's annual Valentine's Dinner.

Sunday, sweet Sunday...........is the first day of the glass beadmaking and sculpture class I am taking at the Folk School!!!! YAY!

The rag rug

2009-02-09T10:04:00.002-05:00

Here is the rug I was talking about...I love that it is forgiving and shabby. I mean, seriously, if I make a mistake in this who is EVER going to know it but me?? No rhyme or reason, just happy crocheting time!

My yarn basket has exploded! I need to sit down and wind balls. Do you know how to wind a ball with a center pull string?? I found this great tutorial here and it works great! There are all my handmade knitting needles and some dowels waiting to make some more. That tiny ball at the top is the dark brown (I prefer to call it chocolate, thank you very much!) I mentioned yesterday. Do you notice the colors I am drawn to? It kind of scares me...I'm feeling like it will be hard to escape being a red hat lady someday with my passion for red and purple.
REALLY.SCARY.

I played with knitting some i-cord last night for an idea I have, but kept messing up. Understandable, since it is pretty complicated to knit...NOT! I must have just been tired.

Scrapping...crocheting

2009-02-08T16:48:00.001-05:00

That's what I've been up to. Yes, I have other things to do, but needed some "art therapy" the last day or two.

Nina (ninascraps at oscraps.com) put out a new kit, joyful.days, and needed some layouts for her previews, so I came up with this. The template is from my other creative team...Melanie Colosimo, also found at oscraps.com.

I did a test dye of that funky wool with some Rit Dark Brown and well, it turned out brown, just brown. Pretty, but not very interesting.

Crocheted on Reece's wrist warmers...during Sunday School. Ward teaches the youth every few weeks and I realized that it is a nice time to sit in class and crochet a mindless pattern. In Australia, it was commonplace and acceptable for women to knit during church services. I think I listen better if my hands are moving...must be why I like doodling so much. Christa Joy, I think you got that from me!

I started crocheting a rag rug from old blue jeans last night and it is coming along nicely already. Uses a huge hook, so it moves pretty quick. The hardest part is cutting the jeans into strips. Dealing with the heavy denim makes my hands tired too while I'm crocheting, but it's fun and will make a nice little rug for my bathroom.

I'm looking forward to getting my camera fixed. It's under warranty and the only problem I have with it is that the connection to the pc doesn't work. My little card reader doesn't work on my new pc for some weird reason, but works on Tyler's, so doing pics entails getting the cards off the card reader on T's pc and then transferring them to mine by a flash card so I can work with them. Eh, a pain!

Links to projects...

2009-02-06T16:16:00.001-05:00

Here are the links to the projects I listed previously

This is the burgundy crocheted heart:
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Ranch/4054/heartofamericapin.htm

The dark red knitted heart:
http://mochimochiland.com/weblog/2007/02/free-pattern-hearts/
This one looked a little shabby around the edges before I felted it, so I did single crochet around the outside edge as per the large mauve heart below. It helped A LOT!

The larger mauve heart:
http://belladia.typepad.com/bella_dia/2008/02/sweet-heart-cro.html

Tutorial on Painting with Kool-Aid (they have a dyed Kool-Aid link too, but I used the painted one for more stripey effect):
http://trhfox.googlepages.com/koolaidpainting
I used 1/2 cup hot water and one pack of Kool-Aid for each of my colors since I was just experimenting. I spooned the mix from a bowl onto my yarn. My little batches were COMPLETELY done in 1.5 minutes in the microwave. There was some popping and dancing going on in the microwave too...it was a little unnerving but turned out not to be a problem.

2009-02-06T00:28:00.000-05:00

I actually did some digital scrapbooking a couple of days ago...
(click for larger view)

All items used were from Ninascraps found at oscraps.com

Yesterday I did a little knitting for some more felting experiments. Today I attended a Photoshop Webinar by my friend Lori Gragg, so I learned something new to create with later! AND I created this blog!

Dying Wool....with Kool-Aid

2009-02-06T00:24:00.000-05:00

So I had this rather unappealing (to me anyway!) yarn that I picked up at the thrift store ages ago for a steal. You will recognize it from previous posts as some I felted. Anyway, I was less than enthusiastic about the color. Then I read that natural animal fibers (wool, silk, etc.) could be dyed...with Kool-Aid! Yes! I decided to see if I could get something "yummy" out of that wool. I used Wyler's brand instead of Kool-Aid brand and it worked just fine. Below are my experiments:

Dyed with Black Cherry and Grape Kool-Aid
Original yarn is on the left and the dyed is on the right. Beautiful!

Orange and Tropical Punch...eh, not so excited about this one, since I'm not a big "orange person." Not terrible, though!

I do love this one though...Berry Blue something or the other and Grape.

This was heaps of fun and smelled good too :o)
These were just small test batches, now what to do with the three skeins of the original I have...

Felting Fun

2009-02-06T00:08:00.000-05:00

I have wanted to try my hand at felting for a long time. I even attempted it with a couple of old pieces of clothing and a knitted swatch, but failed, because I did not know that the wool had to have AGITATION to felt! Below are some examples of my experimentation this past week.

My first experiment. Knitted, felted and then the next day some practice embroidery, which did not turn out so well since there is not enough contrast with the wool. But I think some more design ideas and I might just have a cute pin.

Little felt balls, before and after felting. I'm thinking these would be fun to surface embroider and then string for a bracelet, or use on a keychain.

A little knitted heart with wool I dyed (next post!)

A little crocheted heart.

A bigger crocheted heart, which I don't care for since it shows the stitches too much. But, I will not just post my successes here, it is after all a journey and failures have their purpose too.
Might be cute on the front of a journal though. Buttonhole stitch the edges??
Yes, you will probably see my cat's hair on most of my projects!

The catalyst...

2009-02-05T23:22:00.000-05:00

Pictures of the passport case I made in the class at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC. It is wild and dimensional, but I love it!

My Dad's sister, Martha, showing her passport case, which signified her sabbatical journey.

The silk lining I painted for inside my passport case.

Our display at the end of our week at the folk school.

This was part of the oil painting class display at the end of our week at the folk school. Something about the way the paintings sat on the steps with the light streaming through the window spoke to me. I loved how it looked like a painting itself.

Creativity...unleashed

2009-02-05T20:58:00.001-05:00

All it took was a nudge...a push in the right direction from my creative aunt who I love and respect. She said, "take a class at the folk school...I will pay for it with my sabbatical grant". We took it together. We sewed, beaded, embroidered, ate, laughed, painted, cried (me!), played, dreamed and hugged. It was wonderful! I finished the week feeling so inspired. Aunt Martha said, "you must create everyday...it is a gift and it would be a shame to waste it". "Two hours a day" she said...I balked. Does creating supper count? Piles of brightly colored folded laundry?
Nope. Trust me, I would LOVE to have two hours a day to create, and some days I have the time to, but mostly I find it hard to have two hours. I do WANT to create, so now I have to rearrange my priorities and decide what is most important to me and my family. What do I need to do to make it happen? I am pondering, brainstorming...

I've decided that I will at least do SOMETHING creative every day. It may be a creative experiment to learn something new, or just sitting and doing something creative that I already know how to do. I will chronicle this journey and see where it takes me. Thank you, Aunt Martha, for encouraging me to dream and create.