Footloose in Chattanooga!

It's September and the time we look at new beginnings. School starts, summer comes to a close but autumn begins, and the last long weekend of summer. It's great to find a way to celebrate the beautiful days of summer even as the summer fades. Over the last few weeks, I and about 150 others, have been sneaking off on Sunday nights for a dance rehearsal. A dance performance that will be a "flash mob" style dance on the TN Aquarium Plaza on Sunday, September 5, 2010. The sun is shining and typically there are lots of folks visiting the plaza. Suddenly, the music starts, one dancer, then two, then a dozen, and just as suddenly there are over 150 people dancing! The surprised looks on observers is wonderful! Smiles, laughter, and spontaneous applause become the spirit of the moment!

Please watch this video and share with others and encourage them to do the same. Our goal is to bring positive attention to Chattanooga, TN and to get one million views as soon as possible! Be a part of this great event by sharing the joy. I was not able to participate as I had to work at the last minute but I still share in the joy everyone must have felt that day.

Dancing has been something I've always enjoyed. While my creativity in dance is limited to being pulled around the dance floor by my partner and dancing cohorts, it doesn't diminish the creativity I feel inside by the power of music and others dancing around me. Look to your creativity for the positive feelings inside when you are doing something creative. It doesn't have to be perfect - just feed your creative soul.

Please watch and share so everyone can share in this wonderful Sunday afternoon!

Creative Time

This has been a thoughtful week for me. Some things seemed to be going better and all of sudden, things started falling apart. I am starting to see a relationship between being successful and time being creative. The more time or really the frequency that I take  to be creative, makes a huge difference in my life. I have made the connection between how infrequently I have taken time to be creative and the "failings" of my days.  Lately getting into my studio has been difficult. It seems that there is always something more pressing that needs my time and attention.

Here is my goal. To take time to be creative. Without creative time, nothing seems to work. This week I will focus on being creative - a way of focusing on myself - and see how this impacts my week.

How is your creative journey? Keep it creative.

Journals

A new week and almost a new season is upon us. Have you looked back over this summer season to see what you have accomplished? It may not seem as though you have accomplished very much as you think through the summer in your mind. Did you write down what you do when you do it? I find a daily journal to be the best way to keep track of my life. I have one journal that keeps the daily necessities in order; various appointments, work schedules, calls to be made, etc. Another journal keeps my feelings recorded. This is where I look to see what I am accomplishing on a daily basis.

Here are some things I've accomplished over the last few weeks. Hung the wreath made with flowers from my son's wedding two years ago over my bed. Sanded, primed, and painted the headboard from my grandmother's house and put it up for headboard on my bed. Finished painting the trim in the dining room. Found and purchased the fabric for the drapes in my living room and dining room. There's more but I think you get the idea. On a day to day basis we may not feel that we have accomplished very much and wonder why we are so tired at the end of the day. Having a journal with my accomplishments listed, gives a perspective that would have been lost if I hadn't written it down.

Do you have a journal? Get something that pleases your eye (I get mine at the dollar store) and a pen that feels comfortable in your hand. You will soon find it is very easy to journal your accomplishments every day.

Have a blessed time every day.

Clearing Out

Sometimes creativity gets the better of us! After spending time clearing out and cleaning out my sewing studio, I'm finding myself drawn to the space more so than before. With the clutter removed and my favorite fabrics, threads, notions, and sewing machines readily available, I find my mind is clearer and I am able to think through creative blocks. I've been able to carry forward my love of creating abstract flowers to be stitched onto abstract leaf type backgrounds. Hopefully, they will be mounted on painted canvases to be displayed and sold. It is inspiring to me to see my work laid out in a clear fashion rather than piled on top of miscellanous "stuff."

How have you cleared the space in your mind for creativity? Do you still have alot of clutter that interfers with the thoughts that bring your spirit to the front?

Spend some time this week clearing out your mind. Write those thoughts down and throw them away.  You don't need them any longer. Write down those creative thoughts that now have time to move to the front of your mind. Post them in a prominent spot in your studio, the front of the refridgerator, by your bathroon mirror. Choose several places that you will see every day. This will help keep your creative thoughts to the front of your mind.

Erase the clutter and move into your creative spirit!                                                                                                          

Creative Time

The heat appears to have broken! It is still in the 90s but after 100+, this feels wonderful. Have you ever noticed that the times you had your feet held to the fire, when things got to a make it or break it point, that those were the times you reached deep inside yourself and did what you wanted to do? I think we can identify with that feeling.

It is so easy to just go through each day with no real thought or purpose for what the day holds. We may have planners and notebooks to remind us of "things to do" but we still just float through the day. Do you put creative time in your planner? Do you add an hour to read a book or write in your journal? These are the times that feed our soul, the times that lead us to our ultimate happiness.

Start putting creative time in your planner. Dedicate time to doing something that feeds your heart rather than just letting the day go by. I'm sure you will feel happier, brighter, and sleep much better by being creative.

Time for Creativity

It has been a calm week without much happening. I am still looking for work so my time has been taken up with that. There aren't many jobs to apply for and online applications can take a great deal of time. I persevere onto a better life.

How has this impacted my creative life? I haven't been able to get into my studio all week. My brain is totally fried from being on the computer job hunting. Maybe my brain is fried because I haven't been in my studio. A creative outlet is so necessary for our well-being. Being creative releases stress and tension. It allows our mind to rest from concrete thoughts and just "be." That feeling that whatever I do will be right. There are no rules, no expectations, no set of directions that I must follow. It is just my muse - whatever I create is without judgement. Certainly someone else may look at what I have created and feel that it is wrong but that doesn't diminish my creativity. It is just one person's opinion of one piece of art. They do not know where I am coming from and I do not know where they are coming from.

My goal for the week is to be creative everyday - even if it is only for five minutes. I bought a blank journal last week. I think I will make it my Creativity Journal for my studio. A place where I can document my creative endeavors just as I do with my journal where I write my thoughts nearly every day.

What is your creative goal? For the day? For the week? For the month? For the year? For your life? It may seem like a big endeavor that requires lots of planning and expectations. It is your creative goal, it feeds your spirit, it is a piece of who you are. Live your creativity and your being will be better for it.

Enjoy!

Friends

The creative spirit has truly landed in my sewing studio! Over the last week, I have spent an amazing number of hours creating with thread, thread, and more thread. I've been inspired by the green leaves and flowers. I've been taking water soluble stabilizer and randomly stitching green backgrounds then removing the stabilizer with water. Next I put more stabilizer in a smaller hoop and "paint" flowers with more thread. Remove the stabilizer, gather the center of my thread flowers and attach them to the green background. Finally, I mount them onto stretched canvas. A great floral piece for the wall!

This brings a saying to mind, "Friends are flowers in the garden of life."

Isn't that so true? Think of a friend or two. They have been in your life for a long time, holding you up, much like the greenery I have been stitching. Even when I remove the stabilizer, the greenery stays beautiful and creates a new background for the finished piece. The flowers are layers of thread all connected to each other with thousands of stitches. Aren't our friends like that? Just when we feel alone, they are there in the background ready to support us even when we think all support is gone. Friends bring beauty into our lives. They bring us smiles when we least expect it and stick with us through everything. The photos above were taken by Latta Johnson. Latta is a friend who has taken up photography in retirement. Doesn't he have a wonderful eye? He has a wonderful eye for nature and captures it with his camera. I rarely miss an opportunity to let him know how much I appreciate his work.

Today, write a note or send a card to a friend. You don't have to write a long letter, just a message that let's them know that they bring beauty into your life. Today, let the flowers in your life know just how much you appreciate them. Have a wonderfully beautiful day!