Creatively Breathing

Don't you just love visiting one of your favorite crafting friends and finding they are sharing their creative process with you? I always come away with great ideas to incorporate into my own work pattern.  I thought I would share my process with you today and tips I have learned that have helped me greatly.

BASIC ITEMS GATHERED
On this day I know that I am going to make paper clay items. I have arranged the Styrofoam shapes by the characters they will become. I have gathered items that are essential to making the items such as sticks for shakers, ice cream cups for snowmen, pipe cleaners for elves, and felt for owls.

With each step of the craft, I will work until my desk is cleared of supplies. Being able to see the beginning and end of a step helps me stay focused and know there IS an End in Sight! All shapes are covered with paper clay,

and set in front of a small fan to dry.

COLOR
I believe color is the easiest guide to follow when you are not sure what your finished project will look like. I don't care a whit about pattern, it's all about the color.

Meri, ImagiMeri, gave me this beautiful rusty red paper napkin that I just knew had to become a fall craft. I looked at my supplies for items that would go with this color. A brown fishing card and brown striped legs are a perfect start.

I knew I was on the right track when I made a party hat out of the napkin. A tag on the card wishing Dad a Happy Birthday sets the theme for the craft. I have gone through this process with each character and have gone ahead and made each of their paper stands. Next it is time to

PAINT
A must purchase for all your painting needs is a large round brush for covering large areas, a medium flat brush for shading (cheeks) and a package of liner brushes. TIP draw your LEFT EYE first if you are right handed. It is so much easier to copy on the right side. This also applies when stitching. PAINT WHITE FIRST, BLACK LAST. You can paint white over your pencil drawn eyes, the lines will show through.

EYES
There is just no way around them! TIP don't worry about mistakes made painting with black. You can thin lines with adjoining colors. (Note orange and white paint) Everything is now painted, my craft table is clear once again. It is time to plug in the glue gun.

TELL A STORY
With all my characters glued on their bases, it is time to tell their stories. The theme for this year's holiday crafting is City Sidewalks. I have been imagining all the goings on at Bigsby's Department Store. I can't keep up with the ideas this scenario conjures. There are so many positions to fill!

Elves to assist customers,

Elves in charge of Departments,

to sidewalk Elves ushering in customers.

But back to my little owl. Oh my gosh, he tells his story beautifully. My husband loves to feed the birds, and he loves to fly fish.

REPEAT YOUR CRAFT
Favorite crafts made can be interpreted for every holiday!

From my spring colored owls to fall owls, from Boo pumpkin to Boo shaker, these are TOO Cute for words! I absolutely love them. It's now time for my very favorite task step,

PHOTOGRAPHING

I am often left comments about how sweet my photographs look. I have only a simple digital camera, but I do have a few tips to share. TIP 1.Use natural light when possible.  2. Light behind objects to photograph with a portable lamp from behind. (You wouldn't believe the places I have perched my pole lamp!) 3. Use another smaller lamp to direct towards the back light slightly above and to the left or right of your head. 4. Use a sheet of white paper to cut out any glare. (There isn't a photograph I take that doesn't use this tip!)

SETTINGS
Most of your craft room photographs will use the MACRO setting, FLASH OFF. A mistake many make on their blogs is depressing the button right away. ALWAYS lightly push button, HOLD as you hear motor whir, DO NOT COMPLETELY COMPRESS BUTTON UNTIL YOU HAVE THE SHOT YOU WANT. You can hold the button or let it go and start again without actually taking a picture.  Learn this, and you will be amazed at the photographs a simple camera can take.

BREAK IT DOWN

 

I have just shared one day in the life of this Creative Breather. I love to craft, and I thank you for letting me share this with you!

Where Bloggers Create, 2012

Have you been enjoying visiting the craft rooms of the women Where Bloggers Create, 2012 at Karen Valentine's, My Desert Cottage? I don't believe my head found rest upon my pillow until the small morning hours. I so wanted to visit just one more place of inspiration.

To share your creative space is to wear your heart on your sleeve. A glimpse into the core of your true personality and how it finds it's way into your art. The hope for acceptance, the hope for inclusion.

This is the doorway to my heart. This is the way to Creative Breathing.

It all began for me with a Bluebird. An image chosen for my Profile has become the symbol of my blog. I hoped from the very beginning to create a blog that would capture in words and images the way I feel when I look at this sweet vintage Valentine.

If you should peek into my craft room, I hope my Anniversary Hoosier will make you smile. I know it does me each and every time I enter this space.  Found tucked away in an antique mall just waiting for me to pass by, a telephone call to my husband, a delivery the very same day.

There is always a holiday to celebrate in my craft room. The shelves of my Hoosier teem with the chatter of characters busily planning their own special day. When it's their turn, they appear front and center on the large expanse of enamel gleaming like a polished dance floor.

If it can be said that the Hoosier shelves belong to my characters,

it's drawers belong to mE! On this, I stand FIRM! There would be no Craft Room Characters if there were no pipe cleaner stems.

I am a prolific crafter and can barely keep my craft room stocked with supplies. I never thought I would be a person who could run out of orange pipe cleaner stems, but apparently I am. I only need this inside space of the bottom of my cupboard to hold my paper.

I am a Use What's on Hand kind of girl; so a happy pie box holds yarn to make pom pom birds, a scrapbook binder to hold my patterns.

My Pattern binder is my crafting bible. A day does not end that I haven't pulled it out to retrieve or return a pattern to it's place. I love that one character will inspire another.

Tucked alongside my Hoosier is a pink dolls cupboard that has seen it's better day, but is just the place to hold crafting supplies used most frequently.

Every creative person needs a special spot to sit and ponder. Mine is a porch rocker under a beloved Christmas movie poster. It's colors and theme set an every day holiday mood.

Pillows for comfort, the Heart of Ohio a gift from the sweetest of blogging friends, Renee of My Vintage Mending . The afghan was made by Twyla of Two Crazy Crafters.

A lampshade I embroidered to read beneath, a little chef shaker tassel to remind me of my daughter's culinary days. Girl Friday? A signature tag line seen in my paper art.

A most frivolous purchase that had to be made, a battered red magazine rack for my Go-to issues of Mary Englebreit's Home Companion.

Also red and so special to me, is this peg rack that holds so many of the tags of women who have been kind enough to share their paper art with me as well as their friendship. Smiling here, this peg rack always does this for me.

Another surface for displaying cute, a "borrowed" trellis to change with the seasons. Ribbon used most frequently is kept in these three plastic jars.

A banner from Holly, Cutie Pie Cottage for the Friendship Garland I will hang to remind me of the women who most inspire me in this special place.

A top drawer contains my most used crafting supply, woolfelt from Joggles. A page from my pattern book lets me know whose presence is required next for holiday entertaining.

A second drawer contains vintage crafting elements, a third drawer Styrofoam and Paper Clay, a fourth shipping supplies.

I so enjoy looking at every single small detail of my own craft heroes, I do hope you are enjoying looking at the many details of my own creative space. The little canning jars will be Button Keeps for every month. I hope the readers of my blog will join in the fun of creating twelve different toppers and share them with us all.

Kept on the bottom shelf of this bookcase, a moment of silence please, are the familiar spines of the most wonderful magazine every published. What a joy Mary Englebreit has been to so many of our lives.

Nearing the homestretch now, a beloved craft desk with a view. A view of the wonderful Pennsylvania Dutch painted Hoosier and leafy Norwegian Maple brilliantly colored in the fall just over my shoulder. I love this space, I truly am my most happy self here. There are leaves on both sides of the table should more room be needed. The little oval table holds extra supplies as I work.

I create most effectively within the confines of a small space. It helps me to see the familiar in new ways. My crafting tools are basic and minimal in the hopes of demonstrating that creativity is not hampered by limited access to new supplies.

A Santa in July? His cheery presence can be felt throughout my crafting space.

His favorite color, mine as well.

A final corner cupboard holds finished crafts for Giveaways and for sale.

A ME style container holds vintage greeting cards. Their nostalgic graphics inspire my work.

A spice rack makeover keeps small items neat and tidy on the last wall spot available, hung just above the cutest squirrel bookcase ever.

We have finally made our way back to where it all began. A Bluebird cute as can be, Creative Breathing a place I am so happy to share.

Thank you very much Karen for the opportunity to participate in this wonderful exchange of creativity.