Caption: A few of the
vignettes filling the Christmas void.
Happy to report: I
have made good on my commitment to dedicate more time to my creative endeavors;
this has been the case for TWO whole weeks now.
That makes it a habit, right?
It’s my understanding that experts say it takes two weeks for a new
behavior to become a habit. Well, we’ll
see about that.
I’ve been known to defeat the law of averages quite soundly
in numerous tête-à-tête with the universe.
Albeit, most have been self-prophesized, which experts would likely
identify as self-defeating, but who listens to those “experts” anyway?
This venture into my dormant creative self is much
needed. I’ve forced it to take a back
seat to many others aspects of my life and it’s beginning to be difficult to
conjure. I fear if I allow it to climb
any further into the back seat, it may end-up trapped in the trunk! I am trying to revive it and already feel
better for my efforts.
Last week I wrote about my journal-style calendar, which is
a large part of my artistic re-entry. I
often discuss this subject with my friend, Kimberly Santiago. Kimberly is a local artist who
has—conveniently for me—set-up her studio on the second floor of our building. She has on numerous occasions encouraged me
to further explore my creativity. She is
very supportive, however, as I berate myself for my lack of inventive
adventures, she will chide me to remember that what I do via my shop requires a
fair degree of originality and imagination; she is my art “therapist.”
We are our own worst critics. (I’m not just saying that for my benefit—I’m
saying it for your benefit, as well.) We
expect so much of ourselves, but find it so easy to notice the achievements and
successes of our friends. I will leave
that topic open for my next session with my art therapist, but in the meantime,
I will take pride in my minor creative successes.
This past week I took time to arrange a few vignettes around
the house—things that take the place of the holiday decorations which have made
their way into my newly reorganized storage space. (Hey—I’d like to just take a moment to give
myself a pat on the back for that monumental feat of ingenious displacement
packing. How I fit that much stuff into
the same space AND made it look more organized is beyond me!) Back to the new “old” stuff . . .
This time of year, I pull out the silver stuff; not that it
ever really goes away, but I pull it front-and-center during the colder
months. When I disassembled the holiday
décor on our the mantel in our living room, I left almost everything silver and
brown, added a few tan and brown books, as well as a few bare branches to tie
the theme of winter together.
In the kitchen, I’ve arranged a tray of vintage pewter mugs
with their white porcelain insert cups, a collection of crisp white linen
napkins and transferred our huge container of hot chocolate mix into a vintage
style jar. I also have a jar of the mini
marshmallows at the ready.
In the dining room, I’ve begun preparation for Valentine’s
Day. I’m not a fan of hearts being used
in my decoration, but the proper amount of vintage influence allows for
exceptions. I employed decoupage
techniques to upcycle empty bottles into decorative accents for the impending
lovers’ holiday.
So, there you have my journal entries for the past
week. I have carved-out some time for
nurturing my creativity and I feel so much better for it.
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