Because I had so many ideas? Where are those ideas when I really need them (for example, when I’m on deadline for a book or a new batch of cards)? 

Was it because I loved to draw? HA. Who am I kidding—there are days when the pencils and markers refuse to cooperate, and it feels like I’m wearing oven mitts on both hands. 

On those days, I wonder if I’ll ever draw again. “No, this is it,” I say to myself. “I always knew this day would come. Not a single idea left. It's all over!”

Wait, I know. I'll go shopping! Or visit the art museum or an antique mall. Maybe I'll just get in the car and drive. 

These are all tried-and-true methods of breaking up that creative block, although it seems I have to shop a little harder and drive a little longer lately. 

My New Year's resolution, and we all know how useful those are, is to do something creative outside of my comfort zone, so I've signed up for a metal design and fabrication class at the fabulous Craft Alliance Gallery here in St. Louis. (For classes in your community, check out what’s offered by local arts organizations or community colleges.) It will be fun and, hopefully, mind-expanding to use materials that are completely foreign to me and to think about design in a 3-dimensional way. Probably the most freeing part about it, though, is the fact that it’s just for fun and there are no deadlines involved! Stay tuned to see the results of this unleashed creativity when I finally sit down and draw something brand new on that empty sheet of paper…

                    

Comments

Once, they stole a domed lettuce keeper from the kitchen and taped it over a hole in the top of a cardboard box as a "skylight." A variation on that was a bubblewrap roof and windows, which the cat enjoyed attacking. The bubblewrap also allowed me to peer in and discover many missing items, including my cell phone, all the flashlights, and a half-eaten bag of potato chips. The girls hang out in these forts on rainy afternoons for hours, acting out some alternative reality where they set the rules and adults don't exist.

There's an interesting book on this topic: David Sobel's Children's Special Places, which examines kids’ need to construct secret hideouts and why it's important to their emotional growth. Learn more at http://wsupress.wayne.edu/literature/childrens/sobelcsp.htm There's also a how-to guide that could spark ideas: Tom Birdseye's A Kids' Guide to Building Forts . So think twice before you throw out those metal cans or shipping crates!

Comments

But daily life is messy. The “I-have-it-all-together” face we present to the world is often out of sync with our real lives. Having reached 40, I’ve embraced the notion that it’s my flaws that make me fabulous. 

I’ve always been a real person. I say what I mean, mean what I say, and do my best to tell the truth, even when it’s awkward. As a scrapbooker/altered artist, I’ve introduced a “get real” manifesto to my artwork. Earlier this year, I created and taught a six-week class called “Get Real Scrapbooking” at Paper and Metal Scrappers in Payson, Arizona. 

The burgeoning 21st-century media (magazines, websites, blogs, YouTube videos) have allowed many who are fervent about scrapbooking to take beautiful to the extreme. Millions are spent each year trying to “scraplift” stunning pages. To me, these scrapbooks are akin to my love/hate relationship with glazed donuts: sugary, sweet, yummy, and just plain unhealthy. In my humble opinion, always presenting a perfect life on paper can be as bad for the soul as donuts are for the thighs and arteries!

Luckily, there are a handful of visionaries at the forefront of a scrapbooking rebellion. While they may not call their quest to tell the truth a manifesto, as I have, they are, nonetheless, encouraging people to dig deeper when telling their life stories. 

                    

Links:

My blog, Get Real Scrapbooking
 
Tasra Dawson’s Real Women Scrap

Linda Woods’ and Karen Dinino’s Visual Chronicles


Comments

Magazine covers these days are laden with so many numerals that you can't pass a newsstand without feeling like you're in a second-grade arithmetic class. HOME COMPANION is as guilty as every other publication. "137 fabulous holiday finds," boasted our December/January issue. "47 ways to put a little love in your rooms," proclaims our current cover. 

“Tell the truth: you guys just make those figures up, right?” a friend asked recently.

I wish it were that easy. Here at MEHC, executive editor Barbara Elliott Martin, art director Angela Harbison, and yours truly go through each and every page of the magazine, counting, losing track, and recounting.

Naturally, we count each craft project, like the ballet slippers in Handmade, the embellished folders in Pins and Needles , and the wall of fluttering butterflies in Out On A Whim.

                            

Also tallied in are the products in This We Like. But we also count inspiring ideas, like the scrapbooks in Paper, Scissors, Crop , even when they don’t come with step-by-step instructions, Often, these ideas (like the rustic painted bench at the foot of the bed in the feature “It’s Time to Lighten Up”) don’t get mentioned in the copy or captions, simply because there isn’t enough room.

It won’t surprise you to learn that, at various stages of this fun-filled process, Barbara, Angela and I come up with different numbers.
     
My initial tally is often ridiculously high. I’m not a seamstress or a crafter, so everything looks like a dazzling new idea to me. By the second or third round of counting, I’ve revised downward, so Barbara (a former photographer who’s visually oriented) usually comes up with a higher number. Angela’s number is usually the most conservative. She’s immersed in the photos and artwork from the moment they’re chosen to the end of the production process. She often skips what I would interpret as an idea or a project, simply because she’s looked at it so many times, much the same way that I neglect to catch a missing comma in an article because I’ve read the copy so many times. 

Here’s an idea of what our back-and-forth emails look like after the third or fourth go-round:

ANGELA TO BARBARA AND TONY: I come up with 39 projects and ideas.

BARBARA TO TONY AND ANGELA: I count 47.

TONY TO BARBARA AND ANGELA: I come up with 42; 43 if we count the closet door idea board in Lotta Jansdotter’s studio.

It’s not a crafts project like the ones in Whim and Handmade and Pins & Needles, but it’s a great idea and something that anyone can do.

BARBARA TO TONY AND ANGELA: Let’s everyone count again, this time making a list of every idea in every story.

ANGELA TO BARBARA AND TONY: Look, could the two of you make up your minds and agree on a number? I need to turn the cover in by three o’clock.

In the end, we usually settle on a compromise among the three tallies. But it never ceases to amaze us how much inspiration gets packed into each issue…even if we don’t always agree on the exact amount.

 

Comments

I usually arrive a day before the show opens to see what’s new in NYC. I love to go to Takashimaya (693 Fifth Ave.) and visit their garden shop, now on the top floor; Bergdorf Goodman’s home department (754 Fifth Ave.) displays great artistic goods and found objects and their stationery section is wonderful.

In SoHo, I always stop at Paula Rubenstein Antiques (65 Prince Street). I met Paula years ago at the Heart of Country Antiques show.  She always seemed to pick up great textiles just before I entered the booth. Her shop is a treasure trove of vintage ticking, quilts, and objects that always make a graphic statement when placed in a room.

Dusica Dusica (67 Prince Street) carries unique shoes and purses. I like their collection of flats made of wools and pastel suedes. Pastec (459 Broome Street) is one of the very few shops in the US that carries Mia Zia and other designer clothes that have a casual, relaxed feel. Each visit, I pick up a couple of brilliantly colored, woven cotton tapes from Italy. A special bonus is the ribbon-handled fabric tote that all purchases are placed in, made by shop owner Sara Spinelli.

                 
 
The two Purl SoHo shops are also a must. Purl (147 Sullivan Street) stocks scrumptious natural yarns, needles, patterns, and everything to delight the knitter. Purl Patchwork (137 Sullivan Street) stocks all natural fabrics and hard-to-find sewing tools. At both shops, sisters Joelle and Jennifer Hoverson and team are very helpful with lots of ideas. Their online journal, the Purl Bee, offers free patterns, project ideas, tutorials, and more.

Here are some of the great booths we visited at previous shows:

                                          Sweet Bella 
                       

                                          Vagabond
                 

                                     Tamar Mogendorff
                 

WEBSITES
www.bergdorfgoodman.com
www.takashimaya-ny.com
www.dusicadusica.com
www.purlsoho.com
www.purlsoho.com/purl/purlbee
www.sweetbellausa.com
www.vagabondvintage.com
www.tmogy.com

Comments