Back in the Saddle

Last year I struggled with creativity.  The one thing I did rather well last year was read - I probably read at least 300 books, and countless magazines.  But I had no mojo for any type of craft or hobby at all.  I barely took any pictures.  I really struggled when I had to complete something.  It was frustrating and depressing, and created a negative feedback loop.  When I look over what I did manage to get done last year, I can almost feel the complete and total lack of inspiration, imagination, and creativity in the work. 

But the New Year brought back the creativity to my life!  I've been non-stop making things since the holidays ended.  Lots of sewing, quilting, needle felting, and scrapping.  And I'm trying to take more pictures again.  This past Sunday, I spent the day scrapping with paper and for the first time in over a year just enjoyed the creative process, playing with color and design, and truly finding joy in what I'm doing again.  I was so happy and relaxed at the end of the day.

This is a layout of Matthew, trying to learn to dive.  He had the first parts of the dive pose down, but when it came right down to it he'd end up jumping into the water instead, arms and legs flying everywhere.  I had created the framed bits and extraction sometime last year, but stopped at that point.  They were technical steps, and I could manage that.  But I was stumped at how to actually complete the layout.  So I left it in my in-progress file.  I came back to it yesterday and it all just flowed. 

Summertime Boy.  Supply list:  Paper: Summer by Tracey Ann, Cabana Boy by Dani Mogstad; Labels (borders recolored): Pick-nics Alphabetized Summer Labels by Jen Wilson; Title: Pick-nics Sticker Wordy Titles by Jen Wilson; Overlay (modified to keep distressed edge only): Everyday Challenge 7/26/09 by Katie Pertiet; Brushes: Scriptease Summer 1 by Anna Aspnes; Staples: Something Springy by Anna Aspnes; Font: CK Ali's Writing.

Jeremy's been creating lately, too.  His class took a virtual  drawing lesson from Mo Willems, who creates the Pigeon books.  He learned how to draw Pigeon and Cat.  Here is his drawing of Pigeon eating a hot dog.

 And now I'm finally updating my blog again, and will try to post at least weekly.