Coming soon...

I often get asked what my next ideas will be or what will I be creating next....
which is why I am glad I have my "never ending" ideas book. It is a large spiral notebook with dividers and it is full of ideas of characters to do, what I want to add, pictures of how I want to do it, and so forth.

That really helps when you hit a stale wall...trust me. And hitting that wall is something all artists or creators will do sooner or later.

Some of my upcoming designs include Rhett Butler, Tom Sawyer, Tatiana of Shakespeare's play, Mary Pickford, and a lot more.

Just for fun, here are some of my newest creations-

That's Life

Well, this has been quite the month, I must say. I had my twins just graduate high school, my husband has a tentative job change possibility, but the biggest shocker
was our daughter coming home after 3 years of college and telling us she had signed
up to join the Marines...(of course without talking it over with us first). Now I ask, where did THAT idea come from?

( Now I can see why some species are known to eat their young! )

Well, my husband and I are having to learn what we all must, and that is to make the best of what happens, there is no other alternative- (since we tried the kicking and screaming route but it didn't work!)

Times like this are what make me appreciate having an outlet in my creating. It's better to snip and cut fabric, glue and paint, and put my focus on something
that will distract me from the things I don't want to think about... or rather can't do anything about.

While it may not give a resolution to the problems at hand, it does help me realize that life is life and you just have to take it as it comes and deal with it one step at a time- which is all any of us can do!



This rainbow I took a picture of is a good reminder that things can get better after a storm.

Handmade Spark - Uneek Doll Designs

Handmade Spark - Uneek Doll Designs

Here is another place you can find me, should you need to!

Cute Little Toads

Well, this is off the subject a bit but my son loves toads and frogs. He has for a long time, and I am afraid it's my fault...

I bought a science project from a curriculum company that said you could raise your own frogs. They didn't say what kind, I just assumed they were the run of the mill kind that you would find in any pond. And the success rate for the kit was pretty low so I figured maybe if we were lucky we'd succeed in getting one set of tadpoles to grow.

Not so...all 10 tadpoles lived and thrived. We did lose two eventually, so we had 8 African clawed frogs that all survived and it ended up costing my husband and I hundreds upon hundreds of dollars because we had to buy a much larger tank, several filters, food, and other assorted goodies to keep up with these good sized critters. (These aren't the kind of frogs you see in a pond so putting them there wasn't an option.)

All of this has served to encourage my son's enjoyment of amphibians and here where we live, there are toads EVERYWHERE. He finds them and brings them in for me to see...(from afar please, thank you!)



By the way, I will be reading the fine print if I ever buy any more science projects throught the mail!

A Christmas Carol Isn't Just For Christmas

I know some people think the story of A Christmas Carol is a holiday themed story, and yes, I have to agree it is, in one sense- but in another sense, not so much.

You see, the other day I was pondering on what I wanted to work on next and it hit me- the main characters from the Charles Dickens tale of A Christmas Carol. Yes, it was May, and yes, it is 90 plus degress out, but I happen to love the version with Patrick Stewart in it, he made the best acting Scrooge I have ever watched! Anyway, as I enjoyed the movie, I found myself getting out my supplies and work away I did.

Christmas or not, the message of the novel and the movie has a strong year round lesson about life and how it should be approached- and I felt that though most think it as a Christmas themed tale, I happen to believe it is more of a life themed tale.

Oliver Twist and Charles Dickens

I am a fan of classic literature, (in case you haven't noticed!). I have slowly, but surely been working my way through reading all of Dickens great novels- including my most recent finished read, "Oliver Twist". I have to say thus far it has been one of my favorites!

I was so isnpired by the story, that I created a little Oliver Twist to add to my collection of finished works- so here is Oliver created from the sad little scene when Oliver walks up to the headmaster of the work home and feebly asks, "Please sir, may I have some more?" because he was still hungry.



Poor Oliver!

Creator's Block- We All Get It

If I go in my workroom and see all the fabrics stashed away, and the supplies I have collected- well, they seem to say "get in here and finish that Sheriff on Nottingham you wanted to do!" or "Isn't it about time you started crossing off one of those characters you have written down on your to-do list?" I really find myself at my most relaxed when I am sitting at my work table and finishing another project.



I have heard lots of other artists talk about "creator's block". Do I get that? You're darn tootin' I do! What do I do to get past it? That depends...I often will leave the work table and do something completely non related- like go out and pull weeds out of my flowers, or watch HGTV for a short bit, go for a walk, or -(one of my favorites) pull a book off my shelf and lose myself for while in a well written classic or bit of history. Sometimes I will even go as far as not to make a thing for a few days just to get away from the pressure of trying to make myself do what I think I should be doing.

I think the trick to keeping oneself from becoming too bogged down with always trying to be creative is to just let things be. If you don't feel like doing it, don't. Walk away a bit- however long you need to. Do something else for awhile, something fun, maybe even a bit out of the ordinary for you.

If ideas are your problem, then go look for them. Look through books or other places to get inspired,and keep an ideas notebook. I have a big binder that I have filled with pages of ideas and thoughts on projects I want to do. If I reach a blank, I reach for the notebook, and it jump starts my brain into getting busy.



What do YOU do when you reach that creative slump?