creative inspiration and buttered toast

Last night I spent the last few minutes of my birthday gathering some pieces that might inspire me to start a project today. When I took a look this morning I still wasn't sure what that project might be. I knew I wanted to do something with paper and use an image from a freebie in the new Somerset Apprentice magazine. This issue also features a short article on my favorite artist. The amazingly talented Vanessa Valencia from A Fanciful Twist. You can probably see touches of her influence at the top of my page. I love what she said about letting other artists inspire you and then using that to find your own creative voice. She also talked about finding inspiration from using the simplest things like craft glue, paper and scissors and by allowing herself to enter a magical world with music, dance and dressing up. That really gave me a boost because I often find myself so overwhelmed by all the options in the craft store that I sometimes end up walking out with the wind knocked out of my creative sails. Sometimes I just want to create a vignette, play and take pictures. Vanessa's blog made me feel good about expressing my creativity that way. Her whimsical style resonated with so much of what I like that I hope I don't cross that line from inspiration to plain imitation. I would be so lucky to even have just a speck of her talent! She is truly...well, inspiring! So with that in mind I share with you what unfolded at this morning's quest for creative bliss.

I started with my paint drawer. Looking for colors to go with the paper pieces. For some reason everything just looked brown. Like toast. Then I remembered I wanted to make toast so I popped one in the toaster.

To help me feel inspired I invited my creative muses, Mrs Penny Bunnie and the Gypsy Dancer. I gathered bits of paper, brushes, tokens and a new antiqueing stamp pad I gave myself as a birthday present. I played a little bit of music which you can hear here if you like.You're also free to pause it, I really won't mind!

As  La Vie en Rose wafted through the house something interesting started to happen. Bits of old lace, vintage ribbons, buttons and gems sheepishly made their way onto my little vignette. Paint colors came together. A whispy cloud of pixie dust touched my sweetshop palette and visions of decoupaged gift tags began to dance in my head.

I added a sprinkle of Jane Austen, a handful of lilac and lemon sparkles and turned up the volume on a jazzy little melody. (I think it was 'The Very Thought of You' by Billie Holiday)

Mrs Penny Bunnie and the Gypsy Dancer nodded their approval as they watched me indulge in a little pirouette. Swirls of paper and frosted blooms sashayed before me. I could finally feel inspiration welling inside. I soaked it in finishing my pirouette as I caught a faint whiff of smoke from the kitchen that snapped me out of my creative euphoria.

 

Luna perched on the back of a chair in that cute way that she does when I'm having a piece of buttered toast with hot chocolate.

TOAST!!!

Oh well. Another slice of burnt toast with my art. Such a small price to pay for inspiration. Nothing butter and hot chocolate can't fix. So with crafty ideas still swirling in my head, traces of pixie dust fading in the morning light and Luna patiently waiting for a buttery treat I decide that I've fulfilled todays creative quest. I think I'll save the gift tags for tonight and of course that's for another post!

birthdays and birthday dresses

My birthday week starts today and I thought I'd share these pics from Lebanese designer Hanna Touma's spring 2009 collection. I love the detail on these gowns. Exquisite and feminine. They almost remind me of teacups.

 

When I was young, up until I was about 12, my mom would make a new dress for me every year for my birthday. She would let me make a drawing of what I wanted and we would pick out the fabric and trim together. I remember being so excited about it. I spent hours pouring through my storybooks and her magazines for ideas. The whole process was magical, watching my mom cut and sew the fabric and trying it on every step of the way. It was such a special thing that to this day when my birthday comes around I think about treating myself to a party dress. Of course nothing as fancy as these and these days I'm tickled to find something vintage I can alter and play with. Funny thing is I never outgrew the urge to dress up on my birthday, even if it's just to spend a quiet day by myself, hunting for a good book and a decadent cupcake. I loved all my birthday dresses but the best dress my mom made for me wasn't a birthday dress at all but my wedding dress 16 years ago. That was truly special. I love you mom.

pardon my blog

If you have visited the last few days I'd like to apologize for the ever changing appearance of my blog. Designing, or rather redesigning it has become somewhat of an experiment for me. Does that fall into the creative category too? I have been teaching myself various functions of Photoshop and Blogger. Although I've used Photoshop for several years I tend to stick to the same things I know and love. Having a blog and visiting so many creative ones inspired me to learn more about the many features I never knew about. Thanks to a number of great tutorials I've learned to do a few more things including tweeking my blog's html to make a second sidebar. As the dust settles I think I'll find a look I love and I promise to  limit the editing to just a few tweeks!