DO

I'm sure that you have seen the old adage "Use it up/Wear it out/Make do/Or do without" and I have tried to follow that much of my life - that is, living within my means and living as green as I can. But just this weekend I saw this adage "Do what you can with what you have where you are", and I think it sums up pretty much where I am right now. A good way to remind yourself (and myself) of the abundance in our lives! I suppose it doesn't help the consumer economy numbers (if you can believe anything you read) but I know that I am happier and healthier doing and living without money or ego problems. Next time you are inspired by a project that you read about in a blog or magazine, stop for a moment and think how you could use that inspiration within the text of what you already own in supplies - you probably already have items that would work beautifully and add your personal touch to the layout, canvas, quilt, or altered item. So far this year (now 5 months in) I haven't bought any scrapping supplies and only 6 tubes of watercolor paint (to replace empties), 4 conte crayons, 2 frames and mats, 8 fat quarters at the quilt show, and a couple of journals for $1 each at the used book store. All totaled to $140.  I have gone through my supply closet and pulled out some UFOs (unfinished objects) so I will be finishing those in the next few months and continuing to create new pieces with what I have.

Here's a sketchbook page that I did this week - as you can see, I was playing with circles (the watercolor wet into wet circle idea came from Water Paper Paint by Heather Smith Jones (from the library) - it's a cool book "exploring creativity with watercolor and mixed media"- lots of cool ideas and written in a  fun style). I was sitting there playing with paint and pen, and realized that the top I was wearing (a Liberty top from Target a couple of years ago - this top was in the children's department) had incredible stylized circular flowers so I just had to draw one. So fun how life and creativity run together sometimes!

Hope you are having a fun and creative week - it is truly summer here - so hot and humid with thunderstorms every afternoon - some in which we get rain and some not. We were supposed to get rain with Beryl but we only got a bit - everything is so dry and brown here but that's pretty normal for this time of year. Summer is really longggggggggggggggggggggggggg in Florida! I am so thankful for our air conditioning and I just hibernate in my little studio cave this time of year.

This afternoon I am going to see The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel with friends - really looking forward to it!

Thanks for stopping by
and hope you find some time to create every day,
Chris