Such inspirational words!! And not only inspirational, but very profound for me at the moment.
As I had mentioned last week, I had a small trip planned to visit family in Pittsburgh. We spent an enjoyable time visiting with my dear darling sister (one and only sibling) and dearest brother-in-law. They share a sweet Cape Cod with 2 adorable mini daschunds, Lady and Dimitri. These dogs are sooo very precious and make for great portable heaters! The minute your butt hits the sofa, they are on you! They love to snuggle up tight against you under covers too! I adore animals, especially snugly ones, so this made our visit all that more enjoyable. Except for the fact that my son took ill while we were there, but let's not get into that now...
Once I returned from our little get-away, I had every intention of getting back to my blog and sharing with you all those exciting things I think of in the middle of the night or in the shower in the morning and just can't wait to talk about! But then I returned to work. And with returning to work came stress and exhaustion, and it just threw me for a loop this time for some particular reason. Therefore, you haven't heard from me until now. Needed to rest my brain a wee bit in order to write. And even with that, I'm not fully rested so I admit this is a sad excuse for a blog post!
But let's forge ahead and think happy thoughts here, shall we! I have found that when I'm feeling less than creative, there are certain things that can help to spark me. What do you do to get those creative juices flowing? My go-to's include acts of quiet contemplation through meditation as well as immersions into favorite music or books. Right now I'm hooked on this eerie piece of music from Abandoned Toys called The Witch's Garden. If you enjoy any type of dark ambient, then this is for you! Lots of piano, some strings, and an abundance of spooky sounds -- it totally transports me into a fantasy of roaming through a forest and stumbling upon an old abandoned stone cottage to snoop around. (One of my favorite hobbies -- snooping around old abandoned buildings! Ssshhhh...don't tell!!)
Another thing that really gets those juices bubbling on high boil is flipping through the pages of any publication from Stampington & Company's Somerset Studio. Right now I'm hooked on their newest publication Where Women Create Business. So inspiring! I highly recommend any of their publications, whether your interest be sewing, crafting, cooking, photography, journaling, scrapbooking, blogging...trust me, they have something for everyone!
The weekend is upon us, and although I will be a bit busy, I will still have an opportunity to hit the reset button by doing some enjoyable things. For example, I have a group of ladies I'll be gathering with tonight for wine, munchies, and lots of loud cackling. Yes, we cackle! There will also be some family time along with quiet time for reading and cutting. And speaking of cutting...
I am finishing up some commissioned pieces and starting on a new series of cuts in preparation for an event I'll be participating in June 8th & 9th called Artifest. It is at the Museum of Indian Culture in Allentown, PA. More on that event and the special cuts I'm doing for it later. In the meantime, let me leave you with some pictures of one of the commissioned pieces. Well, this isn't specifically the commissioned one, but it's the original of the piece. Let me explain -- I did a piece on butterflies, to get me in the mood for spring when I was feeling the melancholy of a long cold winter night. When I posted the piece on my Facebook page, I was contacted with a request to make one that someone wanted to purchase as a gift, using a dark blue background. The pictures you see here are of the original piece I did which is mounted on a black background. But the imagery is the same.
In parting remember to think spring thoughts as you turn those clocks ahead this weekend! Woo hoo!! Bring on the flowers!
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| close-up of cuts |
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| another close-up |
It's a beautiful piece, Danielle! And probably very pretty with a dark blue background, even though I am more a fan of black ... ;o)
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, Stampington publications. I managed to downsize the collection from two rows on the bookshelf to just one, and even that was tough! I saw the new publication Where Women Create Business advertised on their website and was hoping my local bookstore was going to carry it, but no such luck. Is it worth ordering online do you think?