Creativity!

I'll be the first to admit that I am a craft addict.

I have been doing crafts in one way or another for as long as I can remember. There was a blue Fisher Price table (aka little blue table) in our kitchen for years as my sister and I grew up. It had matching bright blue plastic chairs and a little hidden cubby in the sides of the table. I think that is 1. where my love of crafting started and 2. my need to stash away little treasures in safe places began.

In high school I was blessed to have the opportunity to work for a woman whom I dearly admire and am lucky to call a friend. She owned a little rubber stamp shop in down town Riverside that our family had been going to for a few years before. My dad, of all people, introduced us to this beautiful shop! I worked in the shop through out the remainder of high school and for a few of my college years. I think it was there that I was introduced to so many new crafts and arts. Everything from paper clay and scrapbooking to mixed media collages and art journaling lived in the shop. (I also dabbled in yarn crafts (knitting and crocheting) and the fabrics but had the patience of a gnat so those were put into the craft tote for another day...)

From that point on I realized that this was an outlet I had not only to get my creativity out but also a world of people who bring so much inspiration and joy into my life. Art journaling is where is spent several years exploring who I was, what I liked and what I wanted out of life. Slowly the journaling has gone out of my life which makes me so sad but I feel as if my creativity has run dry in that arena. I hate to force it because I feel as if my work will be fake and I won't be pleased with the outcome. Hopefully soon I will be able to fall back into that wold of my pens, paint and crayons but I'm not sure when that will be...

Thankfully I have found other craft/art outlest that I am currently obsessed with (told you I was an addict! haha!). A friend of mine who I actually met at the stamp store and who went with me on trips to Artfest is a very talented mosaic artist and teacher so I have begun taking classes from her. I'm loving it! This is a totally new medium for me to work with and to be honest a bit scary to begin with. I was afraid I'd slice my finger with the tools or bits of glass would be flung into my eye (still happens on occasion but is a very controlled issue at this point) and I'd hate it The exact opposite has occurred, I LOVE IT! There is something very stress relieving about cutting glass so quickly and then the theraputic act of gently laying each piece of beautiful glass into a spot that fits it just right. I've taught myself to go slow and not settle for something that I'm going to do just to hurry up and be done. So far the results have been wonderful! I've completed a cupcake (other addiction) a round pumpkin and finishing grouting a fall leaf. Next project will be a "sampler piece"  as she calls it that will display all different types of cuts and shapes that make up one big beautiful mosaic. So excited!!

Completed leaf

This weekend I'm taking a needle felting class and I can't wait to begin that chapter in my craft story!