Small Steps

It's been a week and a bit since I talked about being in creative block. Here are some SMALL steps I've taken to wiggle out of that funk. But before my little list, let's just reminisce with an old song. My brain was dancing as I typed the title of this entry.

Alright, now that I've worked that energy off, let's talk about the projects that I've started again and new ones that I'm looking forward to!

Part one of a bunting/garland.

 Two more parts that gets super messy and requires lots of clean up time, so I'm currently still "waiting for the paint to dry". It's been dried for at last 7 days, hehe.

Final plunge #1. Spoonflower is a custom print to order fabric source. Many moons ago I had some ideas I was playing with but never finished and then I got too lazy to dig those designs out of the desktop (it's collecting dust in the so-called office). Instead I'm going to buy someone else' designs and make a large canvas "painting". That's the plan, but I'll have to see what the swatches look like in person.

 I've wanted to put a painting behind the dining table since we moved in, so I really hope this works out. After searching for nearly three hours on the site, I narrowed it down to these and the test swatches are on their way. From left to right: CAPE Water, Ocean Ripple, Ink Blot Dot.

Final plunge #2. I saw these photo-editing presets (btw if you're not into photography, they're shortcuts to make photo editing less painful!) last year and loved the look but was unwilling to pay the price. I guess I should've done it then cuz it was 25% off, but I couldn't justify spending the money because, a) it's just a hobby, b) I felt like I was being lazy by not editing everything myself, and c) it didn't offer a trial version. But I think/hope it's going to help me finish a big project, so you know what, I'm just gonna go for it and buy it tonight, right after this post. Besides, I can't imagine something that works exactly to my liking, so it's not like I won't have to do any editing, but hopefully a lot less. I've started so many photo books in the past and never finished even one. Usually just after the mid-book point, my perfectionism/procrastination tendencies kick in and I bow out to less intense projects. I would like to follow up and share my mission accomplished(!) moment, so there, it's now written in stone and posted on the internets.

By the way, I loved this article that called on moms to not compare ourselves to other moms, especially in the creativity department. Even if you're not a mother, I think we can all benefit from the take-home lesson. Yes, the Internet is a great tool and source for inspiration, but when we start getting bogged down because we are not as good as what we see out there, maybe we gotta just march to our own drum and dance our own funky dance. I know, easier said than done for sure, right?

For all the lovely people who left me comments and encouragement from the last post, thank you for getting me started on the crazy wagon again. If you have any tips on how to plow through and FINISH those never-ending projects, please drop a note!