Snowy Basket

I am going to put it out there for everyone to see. I love Pinterest! Yes, it can be an easy way to waste time, but I try to use it for finding inspiration.  The sheer number of craft ideas and sewing projects is astounding!  I am so thankful that crafters and sewers are such a generous group!

While looking through the DIY list yesterday, I found a great pin which took me to an excellent tutorial for making fabric baskets.  The Sometimes Crafter made this look so easy, I had to try it!

I am so pleased with how this turned out!  I think I will use it for Christmas cards this year and I suspect I will be making quite a few more too!

Oh yes, I should mention that we are expecting our first snow of the season tonight and tomorrow.  It's still November and that is crazy early for North Alabama!

Playing with the Whimsy Sticks

I had the opportunity to make a Whimsy flower last Saturday while attending the Stitch, Craft and Create launch party.  My girls and I were hooked!  This is one of the flowers that my daughters made.  Isn't it beautiful?

Then, I stopped at JoAnn Fabric today with the girls in tow and my youngest wanted to get more of the velvet ribbon.  The only color she could find was this deep burgundy.  It was wider than the the widest one we used on Saturday and we also got one even wider.  We used the narrowest one (3/4") on the smaller Whimsy Stick to make this flower.  For the center, I cut a length of the widest ribbom and tied two knots in it.  Then she glued the ends together in the middle.  We wrapped the Whimsy portion around the knots.  (These are two sided flowers!  They make great ornaments!)  I will try to get another picture with better lighting so you can see the details.

Then we looked at what other ribbon we had on hand.  This is a 1.5" grosgrain ribbon.  She wrapped it around the larger Whimsy Stick and sewed it down on one side instead of in the middle.  I then gathered it for her and she sewed it into a circle.  The button is attached with FabriTac.  We are not sure what we will do with this one but we have several ideas brewing.

So these Whimsy Sticks were kind of pricey but I think they are going to be getting a lot of use.

My First Art Quilt

I started and finished my first art quilt this weekend!!!  It was a gift for a friend and I was able to give it to her today.  I think she liked it!  Yea!  This allowed me to fulfill the first of my handmade commitments that I made on FB too!

I got some help with choosing fabrics from a sweet friend at church who is a wonderful quilter.  I used tricks I learned from another friend for the batting (warm 'n' natural).  I also learned how to bind it by following a tutorial at Stitch, Craft & Create's website.  It is not perfectly square but I'm not sure that isn't because of the felt that I used in the center.  The snowman is needle felted as is the star.  I had so much fun making this for my friend!

Wine Charm

This is the first in a series of wine charms that I am making for a friend who has a mini store within another store.  I started with the wine bottle cuff.  No... I actually started by making the rose ornament and then had to figure out how to turn it into a tag or charm.  I went with the charm idea and created the wine bottle cuff.  The charm can be removed, though it make take some careful maneuvering to make that happen.

The cuff part is easily removed from the bottle.



The rose is made with raw edges.

A more detailed look at the back of the cuff.

A larger shot of the details.

Creativity

I think creativity is something most people have.  I'm not saying that we all use our creativity because that would not be true.  But creativity does not mean that you are going to paint a masterpiece or that you can design a formal gown for your next event.  Creativity is all around us!  It is in taking the leftovers in your fridge and making a new meal.  It is swapping up the clothes in your closet to create a new outfit with different accessories.  Creativity is rearranging the furniture in your living room, hanging pictures on the wall.

So why do we hesitate to be creative?  There are some places where creativity is not really needed.  I certainly do not want my accountant using creative math on my balance sheet, nor would I want the driver beside me to decide that she needed to choreograph her next stunt on the highway.  But sometimes, creativity is just what we need to solve problems, to think outside our little boxes.

Do you have ways of fostering that sort of creative problem solving?  What about ways to foster creativity in your arts and crafts endeavors?  How do you learn to trust what your creativity is telling you?  Are you afraid of failing?  When it comes to arts, I don't believe that we truly have failures.  I think of those things are learning experiences and teaching tools to share with others.  Sometimes they are happy accidents that lead me down a path to new explorations.  If I hadn't tried to do something new, I wouldn't be where I am now.

Sometimes, we just need to let that creative voice loose and let it try something new.  It may not work, but it might be something even better.