Day 24 January 31 sweater skirt

It was a sweater - it's now a skirt.  I cut the bottom off of an old wool sweater and made a waistband out of the bottom of a t -shirt.  Add elastic and now it is a warm skirt for these cold days.

Day 23 January 30 rope knot necklace

This necklace is made from an old curtain tie back.  A simple knot and some ribbon complete the very easy and simple style.

Day 22 January 29 paper kusadama flower

 Kusadama is a Japanese origami flower.   I made these using the pages from an old book on sushi.

Day 21 January 28 plastic bag turtle

There is this wonderful little painted turtle at the Boardman River Nature Center where I volunteer.  He is the inspiration for this turtle made out of fused plastic bags and a recycled card sent to me from the Conservation District.  Also sewn between the card is a foam meat tray.  The stuffing came from a pillow the dogs have torn open so this turtle is almost completely recycled.  Cool huh?

Day 20 January 26 tim and dana stuffies

They are called "stuffies" and they are made from an old calender towel.  The faces are my kids Tim and Dana.  Tim's wings and heart are made of the towel and map material.  Dana's are made of music pages and the towel.  There is a pocket in the back for the name tags and any special note and there is a pocket under their hearts too.  These were so much fun to make - you may see more of this type of thing on this blog.  They serve no pupose other than to put a smile on your face.

Day 19 January 26 felted sweater hat

The sweater hat.  I felted a beautiful raspberry colored sweater and made a hat.  It isn't all that an exciting project to photograph so I had a little fun with the photo editing.  I do love the hat and wear it all the time.

Day 18 January 25 plastic bag clutch

Paper or plastic?  This clutch is made of fused plastic bags with paper added and stamps and random stitching.  It is lined with a paper grocery bag.

Day 17 January 24 between you and me sign

The base of this is cardboard from an old game box covered with tissue paper to give it texture.  I love this "between you and me" concept and plan to do it again with better lettering.  I just wanted to get this concept documented.

Day 16 January 23 fabric wrapped cording necklace

When I made the earrings from the art show postcards, I also made some charms.  I used them on this necklace made with fabric - from an old dress - wrapped cording and vintage buttons and beads from a deconstructed necklace.

Day15 January 22 music paper wreath

I've been wanting to make one of these wreaths for a while.  All it took was one book of music and glue and some cardboard and a few other miscellanea.  I think it turned out wonderful.

Day14 January 21 curtain recovered stool

I love those vintage curtains.  You've seen this material before.  Remember the hat?  This time I used it to recover a little storage stool.  Very cool.

Day 13 January 20 matties new coat

Ok so I don't take a very good picture of a moving dog, but I tried.  I made my fox terrier Matilda a new jacket out of the corduroy from a dress I didn't care for.  Loved the material though.  I lined it with fleece and added a little beaded fringe from another deconstructed dress.  She really does like it because the temps here in Michigan are expected to go down to below 0 and we do like to walk outside.

Day 12 January 19 origami stars

Origami stars! So easy to make and I use them in a lot of projects.  These are made from recycled magazine pages.

Day 11 January 18 postcard earrings

Postcards from an art show made into earrings.  I used foam from meat packaging as a base. The art show was in November and the artists were myself, my sister, my sister-in-law and a couple of friends.

Day10 January17 music paper rose

A rose by any other name is still a rose.  This rose is made from sheet music.

Day 9 January 15 paper bag journal

Looks like leather - but the covers of these journals were made from paper grocery bags.  Old buttons and a playing card turned art card make these journals really cool.

Day 8 January 15 plastic bag crochet bowl

Paper or plastic?  I have selected plastic enough to make a new kind of bowl.  This is crocheted from many colorful plastic bags.

Day 7 January 14 curtain hat

Scarlet O'Hara has nothing on me.  I took the material from some vintage curtains and made a hat.

Day 6 January 13 fabric scrap box

When you have a lot of scrap material from other projects - what do you do?  The scraps can be sewn together and made into very interesting pieces of cloth.  That is what I did to make this small box.  After assembling into a box I added a key and cloth charm -  also made with scraps for a closure.  This little box is perfect for spare change or jewelry.

Day 5 January12 lotus etched mug

My favorite tea cup is now even better.  Using etching paste and a contact paper stencil I made I now have a lotus blossum gracing the side.  My favorite tea is even more enjoyable in this cup.

Day 4 January 11 doily earrings

Earrings made from a crocheted doily.  Don't they look lovely on my dear friend Shaun?

Day 3 January 10 chip bag bracelet

A potato chip bag into a bracelet.  The bag was cut into strips and made into a yarn, then crocheted into a bracelet.  The chips are (were) Made Rite - made in Michigan.

Day 2 January 9 peace on earth banners

These banners are made from an old atlas.  The stars are origami and are made from recycled magazines. Peace to all!

"The enemy of creativity is fear" Seth Godvin

The etsy blog by Danillexo titled "Fearless Creativity" is a must read.  I will try to write my interpretation here.  I find if I rewrite something in my own words I will digest it better.  She starts by writing about the forms of fear that come in when you are trying to be creative.
Snobbery - "That's been done before" "I am not creative"   These are forms of snobbery that will stifle your creativity.  Let yourself go and draw, sew, paste i.e. brainstorm.  The time to be critical is later in the process.  In the beginning let yourself go.
Taskmaster - Open your mind and give yourself some time when the creative energy surge hits.  The floor will get vacuumed or the lawn mowed.  If you really feel it- get to it!  Give yourself an hour to brainstorm an idea and see where it goes.
Apathy - "What's the point?"  "I will never be as good as her" "Maybe later"  To fight apathy, get curious.  Just see what you might come up with or what might happen.
Teach - Teach what you know but you don't know it all.  Don't  be an expert.  Who you teach can often inspire because they are open to new ideas and are enthusiastic.  Planning is good but sometimes it is good to just throw the lesson plan out.
Practice -  Schedule creativity.  This blog is my attempt to do this.  There may be days when I don't want to create but by committing to this endeavor I will be making myself do it.
And if all else fails, fail big - If you fail big or fail small you still have to dust yourself off and start again.  Same effort to start again but bigger rewards if you succeed.
Study - There are lots of books and magazines and galleries and workshops and artist groups.

Fortune favors the brave!

Day 1 January 8 peace messanger bag

My first do over.  This messenger bag was rather boring until I added the peace sign.  After cutting the words from several old t-shirts I sewed them into a giant peace symbol and then sewed it onto the front of this bag.