Creative Blog Hop

Happy Labor Day!!!!    I hope and pray that y'all are having a great day where ever y'all are.   I hope that you see something in your world today that inspires a boat load of creativity.   For me, I am doing something I have never done before.   I am participating in a Creative Blog Hop.   A new friend of mine, Sylvia, asked me to be a part of this Creative Blog Hop.   I was a bit nervous at first, but Sylvia assured me that I could do this.   I said Sylvia is a new friend. I met her in a Google+ group quite recently, and she has felt just like a great friend I have known my whole life. There is absolutely nothing better than friends pulling other friends along, or pushing them, or just plain carrying them, if necessary to help them be better in what ever it is that they do.   And this is what Sylvia has done for me and all the others in this great group.   They are just like people I have known my whole life. A little bit of encouragement goes a looooong way friends.   And Sylvia is a lady that will be a friend for life.   Check out Sylvia's blog when you get a chance and see what makes her happy at taboriginal.

Sylvia has been crafting for a long time and she can do anything.   I mean anything and she has an excitement about everything that is very contagious.  She does a video segment each week called "Keep It Simple Sylvia" on her YouTube Channel.    I love watching it.   I met Sylvia in the Kraafters Kommunity on Google+ and she quickly welcomed me into this group.   For that, I am grateful.   When Sylvia asked me to do this, she said for me to just be myself and answer a few questions.   I said, ok, I can do that.   So, here goes:

1. How do I create and where do I get my inspiration?

Well, I've never thought of myself as having a creative process.   I like to say that I am just "flying by the seat of my britches" most of the time.   Really!   Years ago, I used to sew.   My sewing process would take a couple of weeks for me to see end product.   I made most of my clothes.   So, I was always busy with something or two in progress.   Then I got into machine embroidery.   I loved that and still do, but difficulties with my hands and arms has had to put sewing and embroidery to the back burner.   So, I started getting more into paper crafting.   I am more into "instant gratification" now!   A sheet or two of paper or cardstock is a lot less expensive than fabric or ready made clothes I was embroidering.   So this is where my love for paper crafting has come into play.   I get a lot of my inspiration from other crafters online.   Also from nature.   I have lots of allergies that keep me inside, but I bring the outside inside to me, by a lot of what I make and a lot of the stamping and coloring with alcohol markers that I do.

I really think most of my inspiration for crafting comes from my Mother and both of my Grandmothers.   All three of these ladies were and are very craft minded people.   My Grandmother on my Mom's side was a great seamstress.   Back during that time you had to be and she was.   She passed the love of crafts down to my Mother, who in turn, passed it on down to me.   I learned to count with buttons.   I learned to sew with a needle and thread and thimble while my mother was sewing.   She would thread a needle and cut two pieces of scrap material and have me sew that while she was sewing.   She would check my stitches and patiently pick them out and have me sew them again.   She was so wise in keeping me occupied so she could do what she needed to do, all the while including me in all she was doing.   This was in the days before I started to school, so I loved all the time I had with my Mother, all by myself.

One of my earliest pieces of art came from the inspiration of my Great Aunt Verdie.   She was my Grandmother's sister on my Mom's side.   We visited her when I was real young and Aunt Verdie was also very crafty.   She had made a piece of art way back then, out of buttons and a plywood background in the shape of a key.   I went WILD over that thing!!!!   My Father cut me out a key and Mom let me have at her button box and I created my first piece of art.   I still have it to this day.   The date on the back of it says that I made it on November 7th, 1970.   Yep, that's right, 1970!   This November 7th, it will be 44 years old.  How could that be?   I'm still just a kid!!!  NOT!!!   hahaha

2. What am I working on?

As of the very moment, I am catching my breath.   I had been busily working on items for our county fair the last week of August.   I got everything entered on the 24th and then judged on the 25th and got several blue ribbons, a few red ribbons and a few white ribbons.   I am really happy that all the hard work paid off, so right now, I am resting and refueling.   I find that I do love making 3d items.   I do enjoy making cards for all occasions.   Recently, I have started on collecting a full range of alcohol markers and trying to learn to color and blend with them.   I am having a semi difficult time with them, but as time goes on, I am learning more about them.   So, I look forward to mastering that.   I see so many lovely colored cards and digital designs and I want to be able to do that too.   Practice, practice, practice is what I keep doing.   I know people are getting tired of seeing some of the same cards and stamps, but I am trying to learn.   So, I keep sharing my experiences.   I am sure I will ramp up for the holidays pretty soon.   I don't have any ideas, but, I don't need them right now.   I just rely on them to come when I do need them.

3. How does my work differ or describe my style?

I touched on that a bit back in question 1.   I have a tendency to go on the grunge side of style.   I really like that look.   But, my main style is "instant gratification".   I don't have the patience anymore to spend days and days, or even hours and hours working on something.   But, I must tell you that when I am in the creative process, that is when I am closest to my Creator!   Everything in me that craves creativity also craves a closer relationship with God, my Creator.   God created all that is, from nothing.   Everything I create, comes from something that God has already created.   We are not capable of creating something from nothing, but God is.   When I am working on something, if it's a card, or a 3d box, or whatever it is, I have an idea who the recipient will be, so as I work on it, I pray for the person who is going to get it.   I pray for God to bless my efforts.   I pray for God to help me correct mistakes.   I pray for God to help me have fun!

Speaking of praying for God to help me to just have fun, back in June, I took an oil painting class for the first time, y'all!!!   I LOVE IT!!!!   I went back again in August and I must say that, Yes I am hooked!!!   It is so stinkin' fun.   When I go to this class, on my drive there, I ask God to help me to just have "FUN"!!!   That is a request that He is more than happy to oblige and I do give Him all the praise and glory for it.   Look for the two oil paintings in my archives, one is under "A special day" in June and the other is "August Painting" in August.   The one I done in June won first place in Cultural Arts Fair at the end of June.   So, that just encouraged me to keep on.   My husband also loves them, another source of wonderful encouragement.

I can't say that anything I do is exciting.   Really, I can't.   But, I do always say that if there is anything good about me at all, it is Jesus Christ!   So, I hope that this helps you to know a bit more about me.   I love sharing crafts with others, thus was the birth of my blog, just over a year ago.   I have shared stories and memories from my past.   All of my stories are at least 95% true to "my" remembering.   Most are funny stuff.    I have a few devotionals.   Most of my blog posts either start or finish with something about God our Creator, or Jesus Christ, our Savior.   I hope that when people come to my blog that they will read about what God can do if we let Him.   That's as much of what my blog is about, as it is about me, or any crafts I may be doing at the time of one's visit.

I want to invite y'all to visit a friend of mine on the Kraafters Kommunity.   She is the next part of the Creative Blog Hop.   Her name is Maria.   Her part of the Creative Blog Hop will be up on her blog on Sept. 8th, so mark your calendars and get ready to learn more about her and see what she does.  She is an awesome artist!!!    She draws wonderfully and does fabulous mixed media art.   She has a blog and I would love for y'all to visit her blog and see for yourselves just what she does.   She is such a blessing and a very uplifting person with lots of encouragement.   She is a person that we all need in our lives.  So, check her out at Drawing & Painting with Maria.

I hope you enjoyed your visit here with me today and please do go and check out Sylvia's blog.   You will be happy you did. 

Thanks for visiting with me today.   I hope and pray that your visit here today has inspired you to remember the people in your life that came before you and shared their love of crafting from the heart with you.   Some of my favorite memories come from remembering those people.   We craft today because we want to.   Most of them back then, crafted out of necessity.   They had to use what was available to them.   They had to be creative with what they had.  It wasn't easy for them to go to the local craft store, there wasn't any.  So, I hope you can remember them with awe and inspiration, because they paved the way or us to do what we do today. 

Share what you seen here with a friend and tell them that God loves them.   Till next time, be blessed.   God loves y'all and so do I!   Hugs, Patty