Jan 27, 2013--Creativity Is Its Own Reward

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.

two-by-two

August 12, 2012

Preparing for two kids to leave for college is like survivalist preparations. You double-up on everything and pack it in big plastic bins. The only difference is they will have running water, so we can leave bottled water off the list; that, and ammo. Two birds leaving our nest.

Recently, Facebook has been awash with pictures of the children of friends as they approach the school bus for the first time or as they trudge ahead of Mom, laden with a fully loaded backpack. Most photo posts are accompanied with comments such as, “I’m going to cry all day,” or “I can’t believe time is going so quickly!” All I could think was, “Looks like freedom to me!”

I remember when I started sending the kids to school. I don’t remember ever really being sad about school days. I do remember thinking things like, “Wow, grocery shopping is going to be much easier now,” or “Maybe I can get the dining room painted now!” But sadness wasn’t really part of it. I guess there was comfort in knowing that I would see them again after school. The freedom was good, but it was temporary and that was also good.

Now I am facing a much more permanent “freedom” that is making me feel a little off-center.

Our eldest daughter was gentle with me. She started her college career here at APSU about two years ago. At that time, she decided to continue living at home. It has been great (for me), but now she is ready to live in the dorms. We are very excited for her and hope that she is able to fully enjoy the university experience now that she will be living on campus. But part of me is now-so-secretly glad she will still come home for the occasional meal or maybe to do laundry.

Our son is a different story. He is off to eastern Tennessee, where he will attend UT Knoxville. (eep!) This one will be a little more difficult. He will eat all of his meals and do laundry (I hope) in Knoxville—now through fall break (hold on . . . yes, there is a fall break, Oct 11- 14) or (eep, eep!) Thanksgiving. He will not be taking a car with him, so any efforts to retrieve him for a weekend will require hours of travel there and back; not likely to happen with my schedule.

So, our youngest has a lot of pressure on her. She will be home alone for three years. We’ve already told her she is going to have to pick-up the chore slack (hee, hee), but what I don’t think she is expecting is how she is going to have to pick-up the entertainment slack, too. I really enjoy their company now. We have interesting conversations—talking books, issues and the like with comfort and ease. I actually like my kids and look forward to the daily rundown during our dinner conversations.

I find that I really like my adult kids. In fact, I recommend skipping all of that other stuff and just adopting fully grown, well-behaved adult children. Since, however, the youngest requires a little more time to enter the next phase of life, I will follow through with our commitment to raise her.

Alrighty then, I guess I better get back to packing—you can call me “Noah”—everything is going, two-by-two.

April 15, 2012--Transition Assistance

Right about now (I am writing this after the second night of frost), I’m guessing I’ve got a few of you out there shaking your fists in the general direction of downtown Clarksville saying, “I hope you’re happy, Paige!” 

My response, “Yup.”

I am happy.  I just needed a little reprieve from the high temperatures . . . I’ve had it and now I’m ready to move forward.  I do apologize to Stacy for the wasp sting (reference her column last week) I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, least of all my editor.

The cool weather allowed me to do a few things that would have otherwise been a little more difficult.  Number one was I was able to keep the plants alive. 

About two weeks ago we put some plants in the ground, along with our wine bottle garden (more on that later).  Darren was very concerned that, with my busy schedule, I wouldn’t have time for watering the new plants.  I did, I kept them alive for a whole week; the cool weather came and helped me out this past week.  I watered, but it wasn’t a life or death situation for them.

Number two, I was able to climb in the display windows at the shop and do some much needed updating.  Those windows are not climate controlled and they get pretty warm—especially on those sunny days, so I was already dreading the hours I would spend in there making the necessary changes. 

With the drop in temperature I was inspired to get started; to bring a lighter, springy look to my shop windows.  The natural thoughts with the season tend to lean toward pastels and lots of green, but I tossed around a few ideas, moved some stuff in-and-out of the window and settled on whites for now.  That way, when I want to do a patriotic theme for Memorial Day of Fourth of July, I can just spruce it up with the addition of some reds and blues.  I’ll likely add some aqua and a boating theme for the June—in honor of the anticipated opening of the marina.

Of course, all of this window movement started out of necessity.  I sold a large mantel which was an integral part of the display, so the whole display has to be moved to get the mantel out.  I replaced the mantel with another one—which I painted in tones of taupe and grey—then started adding the decorations for the mantel.  Thinking garden wedding theme, I went with whites and a table setting for a casual wedding buffet.   

I told you all of that, to tell you this—your inspiration can come from anywhere AND when it’s time to move or make a change, it doesn’t have to be complete.  Just add and subtract.  I left the table and several items we had been using in the window (the iron lantern, the trellis and lavender topiaries), but with the addition of white dishes and a “just married” banner we have instant wedding.  Don’t be daunted by your decorating projects—think to what’s ahead and plan accordingly.  With this change, I’ve prepped the window for displays to get us through the entire summer.

Thanks for taking a look.

April 8, 2012

Happy Easter!

I hope this finds you looking forward to a wonderful day filled with family and friends.  Perhaps you’ve already been to the Easter service at church and the kids have already founds all of the Easter eggs or, perhaps, you have those events yet to transpire.  Whatever the case, here’s my hope for you . . . that the eggs you dyed last week were the ones you hard boiled and not the raw eggs.  Further, if you did happen to dye the raw eggs, I hope the Easter Bunny didn’t hide one of them in your shoe—where it subsequently broke.  (Not an imagined scenario and still elicits fits of giggles around the King Kompound.)

This year, as I am protesting the ridiculously early arrival of spring, I’ve done very little to decorate for spring.  I pulled out a few bunnies (mainly because they never made it up to storage last year and were easily accessible in places like my china cabinet—where I shoved them when I started pulling out the Santas).  I’ve told you, I prefer the decorations of fall and winter, but I do love my rabbits!  My favorite is the large rabbit planter, which holds a Christmas cactus (just now noticing the irony) year round.  My Dad was particularly fond of it, too, which makes it extra special to me.

I’ve made a few other changes, such as switching the brown transferware teacups on my display stand, with my floral teacups from my Grandmother’s collection.  I’ve also planted a few spring flowers in the pots on the front porch, but I’ve yet to put out my spring wreath.  Actually, I think I disassembled it last year; I’ve had it hanging for years and the flowers were fading or blowing off in the wind.

(This is actually a tree stand--I've balance a plate with 

a large candle on the bunnies' heads.)

(I almost always prefer concrete or outdoor statuary to 

ceramic, wood or other styles of animal replicas.)

I guess that means I’ll be assembling a new wreath for the front of the house.  When choosing supplies and colors for my arrangements, I try to find the most natural looking flowers and greenery—nothing sets my teeth on edge like blue roses or any other not-occurring-in-nature combination of color and flower.  I also look for quality construction in my faux flowers—considering how much effort I put into these things, I want them to last.  I’ve found that I prefer the asymmetrical style for wreaths, where most of the wreath form is exposed (I almost always use grapevine forms), with just a touch of color adorning one-third of the wreath. This style is also a cost saving measure—it is much less expensive than decorating a full wreath.  It allows me to hang a large wreath, appropriate for the space, without breaking the bank.

I’d be happy to discuss ideas with you or you can research ideas and tutorials online.

(Side note:  I haven't settled on a wreath design, but will post a picture as soon as I do.)