How Long Does it Take to Finish a Project?

Wanting to start fresh for the new year, I'm cleaning up some buckets I've got stacked in my craft room. The first one to tackle - unfinished projects.

One by one I'll address whether each of these will be donated, finished, or the materials recycled into something new. Even though they're just craft projects, the mental weight of thinking of them off and on for so long is something I've got to let go of. I don't want these taking up space in my head anymore (let alone my craft room) - once these are gone, I'll definitely feel freer.

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Taking Control

Working my way back to creativity after a little rut and taking control of my news consumption.

TV news has become overwhelming; Twitter has been a time-suck; and Facebook is too opinionated, in my opinion. Simplifying & taking control now. Keeping informed, and staying in-touch with issues quickly each morning and afternoon via news aggregates, links below. Of course I'll still be on social media, but not letting it suck me down into hours of lost-time anymore:

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Crafting Cycles

I'm not talking about trends, but personal crafting cycles: switching from projects and mediums as passions arise, working on some during stressful times, and working on others just for fun. Does anyone else jump from craft to craft throughout the year? For over a month now I've been working with yarn, and I have a number of knit and crochet projects going at once.

One of these projects included figuring out how to get this Pink Camo yarn to form an argyle pattern that I'd seen on Instagram. I'm used to sock yarns working into intricate patterns, but not Red Heart Super Saver multi-colored yarn, this was really surprising! I finally got it to work after many, many, evenings of crochet:

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Instagram Pictures Poster Display

Before leaving for her first year of college, my oldest daughter made a poster of Instagram pictures to frame and hang in her dorm room. After her first year, she made a new one and left the old poster lying around at home.

The problem: I didn't want to leave it out where it would get wrinkled and end up in the trash, or roll it up and put it into storage where it would just gather dust and take up space.

The solution: I laid it on her desk, covered it with the plastic insert from an inexpensive poster frame & now she has something nostalgic to look at when she comes back home.

Instagram Pictures Poster + Plastic Insert = Desk Art!

I labeled this project "recycling" because this was a creative reuse of two items I had around. Actually, any number of pictures, art, or papers could have been used here under the plastic.

Poster created at socialprintstudio.com. My daughter said she's very happy with their printing and has gotten many posters and prints from them.

Have any creative reuse stories to share?

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Creativity and Books

Over the years I've blogged about books, but maybe not as much as I should have. I love to read. LOVE. There are shelves of books in my workroom, piles on my nightstand, always an audiobook downloaded onto my phone, and dozens on my Kindle. I work part-time at a library, for goodness sake (3+ years now!) - so it's probably about time I include more books in my blog. For me, creativity and books go hand-in-hand.

Books have always played an important part in my creative life: I taught myself to knit on 4-needles by studying a library book when I was a kid (wish I remembered the name of it!); and I learned basic computer programming from books back when I was in high school, which led to my college major and subsequent computer-related jobs. Recently I've read a few motivational art/craft books that I wanted to share.

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Encouraging Creativity

I'm online A LOT. Obviously, not here at my blog lately... though still working on being creative in my daily life, even if I'm not actually creating enough to show here.

Creativity can be a way of seeing things just a little differently than reality presents itself ... like in this recent post on Instagram/tamdollsmo:

What I really see when I'm driving behind you.

Sometimes encouraging creativity comes about by changing perspective:

• Marieke Blokland's 5 questions to find out who you want to be as an artist? - I think I'm going to sketch out what I discover as I re-read these 5 questions & see where it takes me. (10/18 update: broken link removed - bloknote.nl/index.php/5-questions/)


• CNN reaffirms the benefits of crafting with This is your brain on crafting. "When we are involved in (creativity), we feel that we are living more fully than during the rest of life...".


• Mogul Mom's On Tipping Points, Being Well-Behaved and Building a Lifestyle I Actually Want to Exist In.


• and "You’re an artist when you say you are..." from Amanda Palmer's new book, "The Art of Asking".

These last few are things that I've previously posted on Facebook.com/TamdollSMO. Please follow me there if you like shared content - I won't often re-post these to my blog.

How do you find & share creative inspiration?

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Drawing, Painting and Discipline

My intention has always been to keep this new blog updated with projects & ideas that would inspire creativity. New work isn't here ... yet. I haven't been sharing much because I've been busy keeping up with the Life Book online class, practicing my drawing, painting and collage skills.

Having something very specific to work on, with a weekly deadline has been a good focus for me - left on my own, I don't think I'd have 9 completed projects to show so far this year. Each lesson is an accomplishment, sometimes just because I got them done. I don't love all of them, but I've been learning something new each week.

It may be a while before I get to any new, original projects and that's okay with me. What I'd like to share here (besides the peek at classwork), is the idea of discipline.

Showing new, original work isn't going to happen because I think about it, talk about it, or jot it down in a notebook. In order to meet my goals and create, I'm going to have to be regimented and set myself weekly goals - and do them. Just like I'm doing now, when the Life Book 2014 class is over, I'm going to have to plan out my projects and allot time to them every week, if not every day.

Being so disciplined sounds a little like "work", not "fun" or "creativity"; but I think it also gives my creativity a little more importance. I'm not going to just allow myself time for these things late at night when all the other chores are done - being creative deserves some prime time in my day. For me, it's as important as doing the laundry or getting a good night's sleep.

I think this is part of Life Book's lesson for me. I'm learning how to accomplish my goal of "focus" for the year.

How do you become disciplined in your creative life?

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A Pep Talk from Kid President

Every Sunday this video pops up on my computer & (since I have nothing else to share just yet) I'm adding it here, because it's simple & wonderful. I love the message & it always brings a smile to my face. All his videos are great.

Enjoy the "Pep Talk".

"You were made to be awesome."

I've tweeted this link more than a few times, too. "... not cool, Robert Frost!" Hasn't gotten old for me yet.  Anyone making short videos that inspire you or make you smile? Please, share the link!

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Word of the Year is Focus

Apparently, there's been this "word of the year" trend and I just started noticing it last year. I started thinking about it more in December and realized that I lacked focus. What the heck am I doing online? It used to be so clear to me - make dolls then sell dolls; create patterns then sell patterns. Haven't done that in a while.

Last year I wanted to branch out and learn some new skills, work with new media, so I signed up for some online classes and really enjoyed the process. I get to work on things at my own pace, at home, re-watching videos as often as I need to. This year, I signed up for a new one that began January 1st - Life Book. So far, so good.

Another one, a club really, The Artstronauts Club, is simply fabulous, full of inspiration and fun.

<cool site badge for Artstronauts goes here when I get one>

"Focus" doesn't mean I'll narrow down the million things I'm working on, it just means that when I'm working on one I won't get distracted. That I'll focus on the task at hand, maybe even finish a few things. I'm learning that if I do get distracted, it's because I've lost focus of my goals.

As for this site, my goal is to share creativity and inspire it. I probably won't be sharing most things I knit or crochet here - those get posted to my ravelry account where I keep track of projects. I'll keep this site for the original pieces I come up with, new tutorials I may write.

I've always thought of the projects that I share as jumping points for creativity... even before I'm done with something, I've often thought of half-a-dozen ways it can be re-worked to be more fabulous. I love sharing the excitement of new ideas - I hope they become contagious and get people creating. Oh, now there's an image - a contagion, like a zombie plague, but where crafters start making things with a single-minded, frenzied passion.  Now there's some fodder for a journal page... will definitely post about that when it's created!

Want to share? Do you have a word of the year?

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Does Reaching for Perfection Stifle Creativity?

I think when we focus on "perfection", it can be a road block to achievement.

Perfection = flawless. That is not the same as having mastery of a skill.

When I'm feeling creative - "perfect" doesn't even come into the picture. Ideas come and go quickly in my mind; I'm lucky if I can capture and articulate them before they disappear. Finding the time to create something is a feat in itself; forget about matched seams or precision. A mistake? Oh, It's Art. Artistic license. Modern interpretation. .... An error can actually inspire me to come up with a creative solution to modify or camouflage.

Often my goal is simply to experience the rush of inspiration and excitement of new ideas.

It comes up often, when I’m teaching knitting, that someone will say “I’m a perfectionist”. As a teacher, I need to work with a student, not against their inclinations. If they are willing to repeat the same stitch pattern for miles of yarn until they get it right - then so be it. I'm the one who needs to let go. Let them practice garter stitch for hours. Then stockinette. Repeats, do overs, correcting mistakes until it's "perfect" - and such a student may, indeed, end up with flawless work. Then again, they may never get beyond the basics, always dissatisfied with less-than-perfect.

Focusing on a very clear goal is important. When learning a new skill, what should it be? Do you want to master a skill or be creative? Is there another goal?

Can a single-minded focus on perfection stifle creativity? I think it can. I do realize that innovation is not for everyone; it is very satisfying to work an established pattern to completion, with proven, expected results. What I need to remind students of, is that the initial goal is to master skills. Consistent, flawless work can follow from that, but usually not before.

You can be innovative & creative even as a beginner.

Where is all of this coming from?

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