So, I was able to fly up to Cincinnati this past weekend and hang out with none other than my Etsy partner and best buddy, Gina. We had a fabulous time! You know what was best though? Working on crafts together, scouring fun craft books and cake/cookie books, and browsing around the bead store and art stores. If I could spend eternity doing that, I'm pretty sure I would be happy every day.
Gina found a great book called "The Big Ass Book of Crafts" by Mark Montano. There are so many great ideas in this book! Our favorite for the weekend was decorating metal lightswitch covers with different papers, magazine photos, and other designs. We spent hours looking through magazines, scrapbook papers, and trying to lay out designs. I came home and hung up three of them in my house already. My kids love them!
Gina also gave me a great collage book made up of ideas from many different collage and book artists. It's called "Alphabetica" by Lynne Perrella . There are so many amazing ideas for collage work -- it's very inspiring. My favorite part of the book is a list of instructions for many different techniques for inkjet transferring of photos, pictures, etc.
Last but not least is "The Complete Book of Glass Beadmaking" by Kimberley Adams that I picked up. It is a step-by-step guide to making all sorts of glass beads from the very basic to the advanced. It includes great color photos, some background, and easy to follow instructions. I can't wait to get into a local class and really start learning the art of glass beadmaking.
The book topics seem like I'm all over the place, right? Well that's what is so great about it! There's so much inspiration out there that I don't want to lose sight of it. I can read through a collage book and find inspiration for a necklace. We can spend the day doodling with Sharpies and suddenly Gina has inspiration for a mosaic or a cake.
My challenge to you? Get out there and get inspired! Spend the afternoon with your friend who loves art as much as you do, putter around the home improvement store or the art store or just wander around in the woods. Pull out the crayons and color! Whatever it takes to get the ball rolling. When Gina and I spend time together, we both walk away ready to CREATE! I love this feeling of being inspired and can't wait to get to work! I know after I flew home that Gina got to work on an anniversary cake. I found some beautiful lucite pendants at a bead shop and can't wait to get to work too -- I've never worked with plastic in my jewelry but I couldn't walk out of that shop without those pendants.
Enjoy your week and I hope you catch the inspiration bug like we did this past weekend!
And, of course, check out our new listings at http://www.frozenyoga.etsy.com/
7 comments:
sounds like you had a great time! i'd love to learn bead making! hmmmm... gotta do some research on that!
awesome, wish I could do some inspiring time with friends.....best wishes to you!
www.lamiadesigns.blogspot.com
That is awesome! Sounds very fun and productive
I live in Cincinnati and it's good to hear I wasn't the only one crafting the weekend away here. lol My sister came over yesterday and helped my craft...it's always fun to do with friends.
I got your message and yes UDF gas station ice cream is the best! lol cookies n cream or cherry cordial are my favs..my sis's is mint chocolate chip. The kids eat the blue moo. They are actually building one down the road so I will have one on my path to the kids school....that is sweet if you ask me!
i think craft hours is what gets us all through our normalness. it wouldnt be as special to me.
Sounds like you had a fab weekend! My mum is my crafting and best buddy, but she lives 3500miles away! :(
Id love to spend an afternoon with her going around the craft shops and drooling over beautiful papers!hee hee!
Thanks for your comments by the way!
Sounds like you had a wonderful time with your friend. I haven't hanged out with my best bud for a while, I should give her a call.
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