Creative Every Day (CED) wc 28 Jan

I had a comment from Isabelle on last week's summary post which made me smile, she asked, 'How do you find time to do all these things?'  If you look carefully at most of the entries, you'll see that several of them take anything from a few seconds to a few minutes.  Even longer things can often take less than half an hour - such as a few rows of knitting or quickly editing a few photos.  Being creative and doing lots of things doesn't have to take a long time!  Often creativity can be 'discovered' in the things of everyday life and so you don't have to take time out of life to do them as they're already there.  See what you can find in your own activities this week...

Monday 28th:
* Put in a few lengths of thread on the rabbit piece (whilst watching some Father Brown dramas on the iPlayer!!)
* Finalised and posted last week's CED summary
* Enjoyed flicking through the first issue of 'Inspirations' (#76) that arrived in the post today
* Started the WIPW posting to save time later in the week

Tuesday 29th:
* Did some more on the rabbit piece
* Bought some size 18-22 tapestry needles and the buttons for the current baby knit
* Looked through the latest Argos catalogue for current bedding styles - not much change from last season
* Thought about some collage subjects and colours for the C&G Level 1 syllabus I want to do whilst on the bus to Leeds

Wednesday 30th:

* Bought fabrics and, joy of joys, another ball of the peach & white yarn from wonderful Samuel Taylor's in Leeds.  I got 3 pieces of silk including half a metre of habotai, 2 pieces of faux silk, some white cotton lawn, a bright pink cotton fat quarter and some lightweight interfacing.  These are mostly for some things I want to try and make to sell.  I also got a skein of peach DMC Light Effects thread to complete my pastels collection
* Had a brief 'book meeting' with the senior co-author of a textbook project I'm involved in.  She kindly suggested I should try selling and exhibiting my needlework!!  Bless her, she's no idea that my work is relatively commonplace and that only professionals who design their own stuff and show a high level of innovation (to say nothing of far more contemporary styling) get to have their own exhibitions.  Selling is another matter though, and I have several ideas...

Thursday 31st:
* Edited the rabbit photos for the now late WIPW post, and one for the language blog, and got the postings finalised and live.

Friday 1st:

Huh?? Why do we stop here?  Well, because I've decided not to post this weekly update in this format anymore.  I've proved to myself that I often do several creative things each day and so, whilst I'm remaining in the challenge and will be making more effort to get on with projects more quickly from now on, I won't post the day by day update.  I do plan to do a monthly update, although not in so much detail, on the 1st of each month alongside the goals progress report.  This will also help to reduce internet usage time, which then in turn increases productive time off-line.=)  I even got on with the feather last night...

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2013

Creative Every Day (CED) 21-27 Jan 2013

It's week four of the challenge already and I've managed to keep it up every day so far!  I'm really quite pleased that, not only with this one, but also another two things (reading and study related) that I wanted to do daily have also been 100% so far.  If you can manage a month, you can manage a year.  Well, with most things, anyway!=)  I wouldn't mind having a go at some things that might be seen as unreasonable to do every day for a year, like travelling, buying nonsense I don't need (although I would actually get sick of the latter as it would lose its lustre and I would feel the pointlessness of it very quickly)....

So, here's this week's summary:

Monday 21st:

* Took photos of the snowy scenery at home and also of an icicle that started to develop in an interesting way.
* Finalised and posted last week's CED update.
* Did 3 more rows of knitting, which also included the working out (correctly, thankfully!) of where to re-start in the pattern.
* Selected some of the cribbed-from-the-web-and-a-possible-copyright-problem photos I had in a special folder, pasted them to a Word doc, ready to print out and try to reproduce/adapt in pastels and, maybe later, other media too.

Tuesday 22nd:
* Took several more icicle photos!  Good thing I did as we knocked them all down later on.  We live on the top floor of three and our home is alongside the entrance path, so a falling icicle whilst melting could do someone a real injury and we did NOT want to be responsible for that!  Imagine being speared by this baby ->

* Joined the new 'Needlepainting!' group on Stitchin' Fingers, (what?  You're not an SF member yet??!!), of which I will be the moderator soon...  If you aren't yet a member, you mayn't be able to see the group itself, I'm not sure.  Moderating this group is by no means meant to suggest that I am any sort of expert in the subject though.
* Finally edited my photos from Durham (Nov 2010) and posted a selection to our travel blog.
* Ditto the Edinburgh photos for a post that went live on Friday.
* Spent some time with the printouts I made of various C&G embroidery syllabi and planned how to do a few of them by myself.  Maybe I can join up with the local class sometime and get my work accredited as I know the teacher will do that.

Wednesday 23rd:
* Made my first deliberately gluten-free meal for a coeliac lunch guest.  It really only meant doing a separate pan of pasta for him, but I did check all flavourings carefully etc, so there was an element of creativity there.=)
* Knit several rows up the top right front of my baby knit, which is a jumper/sweater with a 3 button placket trim.  Getting a bit complex...

Thursday 24th:
* Finished that part of the knitting (although I'm not sure how correctly - I may have fluffed it) and made a start on the other side.
* More icicle photos.  One opposite our place seemed to be a good metre long...

Friday 25th:
* Another intriguing icicle...
* Finally did some work on my sampler.=)
* Ordered an embroidery book from Amazon UK and 2 issues of 'Inspirations' from a UK magazine subscription site.

Saturday 26th:
* Edited the icicle photos (for this post!)
* Finished the roses etc on the cross stitch section of the sampler
* Took the knitting photos, edited them and created the SY post that went live yesterday.

Sunday 27th:
* Flicked through a watercolour book over breakfast
* Wore some more new eyeshadows and tried to take a photo of the result - but as it didn't work out well, you'll just have to take my word for it this time!!
* As I worked through a section of a Chinese grammar book that I'd assigned to my student to do, I tried to think of ways to include the material in her future lessons.
* Collected together and printed out the material I need to refer to to create a short 12-15 sentence passage for translation to form part of a sample chapter for a book I'm to be the (junior-ish) co-author of.

In many ways it wasn't an overwhelmingly creative week.  Having said that, I have tried to keep it in mind and also to realise that, sometimes, circumstances don't allow and that a little something will do.=)  Sometimes I'd love to be able to work and others I think, 'Why would I want to lose the freedom of choice and use of time that I have now??!'  Perhaps I'll do some temp work sometimes...

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2013

Creative Every Day (CED) 14-20 Jan 2013

Good Monday!  If you're here from Saturday's Grow Your Blog party, my post is the one just below this one, so do feel free to just scroll on down to the party...

Here's the list for the 3rd week of the challenge and I've felt a bit of a cheat this week as I became ill towards the end of the week and couldn't do much, but I appreciated Rachel's comment on last weeks review post that thinking about things was every bit as important as doing them, then she reminded me of the popular mantra: Failing to plan is planning to fail, so, yes, I will certainly include the conceptual process as part of the challenge, whether there's anything on paper or not!

Monday 14th:
* Knitting - finished the pattern and knit the next 3 rows, up to the point where I've to start the dividing for the buttoned part
* Sampler - completed the square box
* Read the next two and a bit chapters of 'The Power of Creative Intelligence'
* Finalised and published last week's CED post
* Played with the chemistry stencil I bought last week (I've wanted one ever since I saw them when I was a little girl and was fascinated by the shapes!!) and 'drew' some experiments, then coloured them in.  This was FUN!  When I was visiting Sue Lancasters' C&G exhibition, she told me she was joining in a textile artists' show to be inspired by 'The Elements'.  She was working with 'water' as a theme, but my mind went straight to chemistry and the Periodic Table of the Elements!!
* Messed about with my viola for a couple of minutes - something I haven't done for months, but want to do again just as soon as I'm strong enough to manage.=)

Tuesday 15th:
* Looked at some patterns and other peoples' work in the dolls house textiles line
* Read chapters 4 and 5 of 'The Power of Creative Intelligence'
* Created my 'Grow Your Blog' event post in good time and scheduled it to publish on Friday night as instructed.=)

Wednesday 16th:
* Edited and developed my 'Grow Your Blog' post.
* Read chapters 6 and 7 of the creative intelligence book - and used part of chapter 5 in the Chinese lesson I planned and gave.
* Finished the green cross stitches around the square box on the sampler
* Spent some time with the Colourcraft catalogue - esp. the fabric arts section...  £$£$£ are easily spent there!
* Created the WIPW post

Thursday 17th:

* Used some eyeshadow shades that I think I haven't used before (I have several of those huge 88 colour palettes, so there's a lot of room for new colour usage!!).
* Knitted half a row, which is a bit of a no-no - leaving it half way, but I didn't feel alert enough to try and work out where I was in the 12-row pattern and, as the printed pattern gave no help there, I would have had to do some serious counting and figuring.  So, it went back in the bag until a more intelligent moment showed up!!

Not the most creative of days, although Sir tried to convince me that making dinner counted....=)

Friday 18th:
* Finished 'The Power of Creative Intelligence'
* I didn't make, or even 'design' this cake, a piece each was brought for us by two of our Chinese Bible students this morning, but I frankly felt creative just eating it!  There were 7 different coloured layers in it, from the red at the top through 2 orange shade, 2 greens, the blue and the violet, then about 4 different toppings.  The time this must have taken...
* Did some last minute additions to my GYB posting, including making many photos larger and adding in one or two more.

Saturday 19th:
Ill at the moment, so can't do much =(
* Have been considering which books to buy from my Amazon embroidery wishlist and have been looking at a large number of 'new-to-me' creative blogs on the Grow Your Blog Party!
* Looked through a fair number of the files in my 'Source Photos' file and began to think about some embroideries that might be based on them

Sunday 20th:
Still ill and more or less out of action
* Looked again at several photos on my computer and have come up with, not only stitchery ideas, but also some pastel painting ones.  Hope to get some of those done over the next few weeks and can kick start my art blog.

I joined in the Grow Your Blog party this weekend and, despite being very low down on the list (already having a good number of followers and being near the end of the alphabet), I still managed to attract about 8 9 10 as many as 12 new regular readers (welcome one and each!) and had some fun leaving and receiving nice comments.  My post got 19 21 22 comments, which is a nice number, although my current record for one post stands at 21 (from a tutorial posting last year), so I just need one more....  esp. as it's beaten my previous record.=)  I often wonder 'how in the world?!' when I see blog postings elsewhere getting 50+ each time...  I think my readers are just too busy stitching, and I can't argue with that!=)

Snow is the order of the day just now and this is a (slightly zoomed) view from our living room window today.  The other buildings aren't this grey, most are the usual brick-red, but it hasn't shown up well, so it looks a fair bit more bleak a scene that it is in reality.  And it snoweth still, but I don't mind as I don't need to go out until Thursday and we've got plenty of food and other essential (toilet paper etc!) in.  I can just enjoy the nice brightness and pretty view.  I quite like snow.=)

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2013

Creative Every Day (CED) - 7-13 Jan 2013

So, here is this last week's list:

Monday 7th:
* Completed last week's Monday update post
* Cast on and knitted the 12 rows of rib on the latest baby knit front
* Started the cross stitching greenery on my sampler

Tuesday 8th:
* Updated my Ravelry page with my latest knitting finishes
* Finished the first ball of yarn on my baby knit
* Put in one line of couching on the peacock feather - the 'stalk' part

Wednesday 9th:
* Finished the pattern on the baby knit (the first ball of yarn ran out almost 10 rows into a 12 row pattern, so I just completed the last 2 rows)
* Continued with the cross stitching on my sampler and made a start on the square box part
* Created a 'Work in Progress Wednesday' post

Thursday 10th:
* Knitted another pattern
* Completed the second 'side' of the square box on the sampler

Friday 11th:
* Knitted 6 rows - half a pattern
* Received and flicked through Buzan's 'The Power of Creative Intelligence'

Saturday 12th:
* Looked in Hobbycraft for knitted related things
* Bought an A3 sized plastic portfolio-box thingy and 3 A5 display folders for storing pieces awaiting framing and small samples etc.

* Read the first chapter of the 'The Power of Creative Intelligence', which I think is going to be very good

Sunday 13th:
* Went looking for yarn - although didn't find what I wanted.
* Discussed the design and construction of a mobile magazine display stand with Sir
* Collected ideas from Dunelm and Homebase for bedding and cushion designs - I want to have a go at making and selling dolls house textiles.  Also got paint charts for the future re-decorating of the bathroom!!

So, although I didn't really have much time for actual project work over the weekend (we were out a lot and I had a monster headache at times too - thus no yarncrafts posting yesterday), I still managed quite a few things that could be described as creative.  If we really think of 'creativity' as going well beyond our textiles work, then we can see it in many seemingly ordinary things of life.=)  Sign up for the challenge, we can all do it!

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2013

Creative Every Day Challenge - Monday update for 1-6 Jan 2013

The 'Creative Every Day' Challenge is an annual event run by Leah Piken Kolidas through her website and is a sign up as and when you like, low-pressure challenge.  The idea is to try to do something creative each and every day of the year.  Of course, creativity means widely differing things to different people - it doesn't have to be some form of visual art.  There are also music and singing, writing, food preparation, home decor etc and a plethora of other things in which I'd even include re-organising creative materials (or any materials), blog postings that take a lot of thought and arrangement, dress, grooming and make-up etc.  The sky's the limit, really.  A former colleague of mine, a teacher of English to speakers of other languages, said she satisfied her need for creativity by developing teaching materials and lesson plans.

The challenge has a Monday check-in feature that participants can 'sign in' to so that others can come and see what they've been doing.  This is my offering for the first week and, as you can see, it's far from all needlework!

Tuesday 1st:
* Created a blog post reviewing my textiles work over the previous year and previewing what I hope to achieve this year, complete with selected photos.  Sometimes, these blog posts can take quite some time to tinker about with until they are really pleasing to the eye.
* My hubby and I also began to plan to do a Bible version of the old Trivial Pursuits sort of game.

Wednesday 2nd
* Created a blog post on my language blog in the same vein as the textiles one the day before.  Fewer photos this time, but plenty of code tinkering.
* Finally went to a well-known fabric shop here in Sheffield and had a look around.  Also bought the needed buttons and ribbon to finish the green and lemon baby cardigans.
* Managed, after 2 or 3 false starts and a lot of pulling back (AARRGHH!!), to knit a whole pattern (12 rows) on my latest baby knit.

Thursday 3rd
* Designed the layout for this post, which will be the 'template' for all future Monday update postings.
* Learned how to take screenshots for use here!!!
* Attached the buttons and ribbons to the lemon and green baby knits
* Knitted two and a half more patterns on my peachy pink baby knit
* Finished the long 'boxes' on my sampler

Friday 4th
* Knitted another pattern and a half
* Starting the lettering on the sampler
* Took some photos (when there was enough light to do so!) of the completed knits

Saturday 5th
* Completed the knitting of the back of my current piece.
* Sorted out and re-did the arrangement of one of our bedroom shelves - the one with perfumes and body lotions etc on it.  Needs to be both user-friendly and attractive.
* Cut out and trimmed stacks of pictures from Bible magazines to make some scrapbooks of Bible characters, stories and research later on.  I don't feel I have enough pictures for most of it yet...

Sunday 6th
* Sunday Yarn blog posting
* Finished the lettering on my sampler

That's it for this first week.  All being well, there'll be an update each Monday, probably in the morning (so that means the Monday itself will be covered the following week).  In case anyone's wondering how I manage to remember everything, well I update most days and save, rather than publish the post.

MARNIE:  Thanks for your message about the cupcake card.  I checked last night and the pattern I used came from 'Cross Stitch Card Shop' magazine issue 61, August 2008.  It's published by the UK company Origin Publishing and, as far as I know, is still published.  That should help you make a more directed search.=)

Text and images © Elizabeth Braun 2013