CREATE: challenge no. 1 reveal

Just The Two Of Us

In the end, there were two.

Myself and Andrea of Strong Southerly are the only ones who participated in the CREATE: challenge no. 1. And that's OK. Even if it was just me, it would be OK. I know it got some of you thinking about creating something just for the sake of creating. It certainly got me thinking and doing and that in itself is a success.

In case you don't remember, for the inaugural CREATE challenge, there were NO rules. Hell yeah, and pass the hot sauce. I'm not a huge fan of rules so this totally worked for me. And it also worked for Andrea, who despite having been down with the count with the flu while juggling a job and a wee lad, managed to take a moment and capture the beauty of her surroundings in Australia.

As Andrea herself dubbed it, Big Sky.

The colors are so soft and lovely.

These mourning doves need to turn around, they're missing the sunset!

What a lovely Big Sky view you have Andrea. Thanks for sharing a little part of your world. By the way Andrea, I have a sky obsession too. So many different hues and moods. You just never know what you're going to get.


Now, me.  I'd had this idea jingling around my head for awhile: 'Do something with an altoid tin.'

Gathering inspiration for the challenge, I finally knew what I was going to do.

I collected a few pieces that had positive meaning........a note and string that came with the lovely bracelet I won on Diana's blog from Sima G. A sand dollar I found on the beach where I grew up. A feather from one of my nature walks in Sunset Meadows with the dog. A heart rock I found at the beach on the most wonderfully beautiful day. And some shimmery ribbon that's been in my jar of bits and pieces for ages, a reminder that even pieces of things can have new life.

And then I painted with watercolors, did a little decoupage and hot gluing and viola.

My first pocket altar.

Want a look inside?

As I've said before, I'm not terribly religious person, but I am spiritual and well, Mary.......she's my girl.

 

She never did come out quite the way I wanted, but I took a breath and let it go and in the end, I think my little pocket altar it turned out sweet.

So small I can take it with me anywhere.

I hope more of you will join in the next challenge, I really enjoyed getting Andrea's pictures in my inbox.

For now, if you did participate and forget to tell me, feel free to send me the pics and I'll be sure to share in another post. Or if you blogged about it, please be sure to post a link in the comments below.

My new little neighbor came home from the hospital yesterday.  Before I headed out to the garden yesterday evening, I popped over to hold baby Piper. What a wonderful treat. Babies, miracle of miracles.  Sigh.

I hope you all have a fantastic day and I hope you'll think about creating something with no rules!

Ciao for now,

Freeform Friday

Don't Miss These

Hi gang. Good news! It's Friday. Oh yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

The rest of the week is behind us and the weekend lies ahead, but before we go there here's some links to peruse while you catch up on things over the next couple of days.

A lovely post on LOVE over on Strong Southerly.

Take a thrifting trip to Goodwill with Sam on the Junk House. I totally would have scored those blue willow mugs.


As a work-at-homer for the last 20 years, this post on setting deadlines by Angela at if found, make, spoke to me. I might have to do a post of my own on making it work when working from home, especially since it's a question I'm asked on a regular basis.

Oh, and have I told you lately that I love..........eggs? I know, you thought I was going to say you. And I'm here to tell you, that I'm awfully fond of the latter, but I can say with certainty I am an egg gal. Omelettes are my favorite so I had to smile when I thought about Diana trying to master an omelette this weekend. My tip, don't be afraid to make a mistake! After all, it's just an egg. And I'd go with Julia's technique. No fear.

Did you see yesterday's post? I definitely don't want you to miss the CREATE challenge  no. 1!  Are you in?



Freeform Friday

How about something classic to start us off? Well, at least in my book. The man in black and his lovely wife. Other than the fact that Johnny has a little cough in this, these two really know how to rip it up. Click here if reading via email.




Let's follow that up by something new my best pal Tina sent me this morning. An Irish lad, Hozier, I'd yet to hear of, who did quite well in his performance on Letterman. I think his voice is wonderful. Click here if you're reading via email.



Hozier performs ~ Late shows with David Letterman by HumanSlinky
 


For us, this weekend starts with a night out to dinner with my parents to the 40th annual opening of a beach institution- Mama Leone's. It's like 'Old Home Day' and there are always lots of old beach friends to chat to when Mama's opens for the season.  It's old school, no fuss Italian, complete with park benches in the waiting area. You just have to love it.  I'll also be working a bit at my desk, raking after the rain is done, and perhaps we'll be able to get a campfire in tomorrow night if the rain ends in time.  I won't be watching any hockey playoff games with my Bs in them. We lost game seven to our rivals the other night, so we won't be moving on to the final round. It was quite sad after the season we had (best record in NHL), but these things happen. No Stanley Cup for us this year. What's happening in your world?

Ciao for now,

CREATE: challenge no. 1

Get Busy Creating

The idea for a creative challenge on the muse came from a few different places. First, my post of yesterday alluded to the fact that I was in a mode playing with watercolors and I was leaving myself room to experiment, pretty much without editing. I’ve simply given myself the room to create.  Then Mary Lynn commented on the post and said that the timing was serendipitous as she was taking an art course taking an online class called Artist Strength Training with Jane Dunneowold, and this week’s topic has been ‘no rules’. 

This coincidence of sorts got me to thinking. 

What if we were challenged to create simply for the sake of creating? And what if we encouraged others to do the same? Could a small ripple of creating start to form? Could it eventually become a wave?

 I decided I wanted to fin out.

 

What better way to start the this new CREATE challenge series than with no rules? 

Imagine what could be created? 

Are you on board yet?

  

So, as I said and as you can see, this initial challenge has no rules.  All you have to do is create something in whatever medium you’d like: ink, fabric, film, digital, paint, wood, paper, recyclables, ribbon, canvas, clay, flowers, plants, yarn, food – it’s your call.

If you want to participate, but don’t want to share what you created. That’s cool.  Think of this as your own personal challenge.

If you want to participate, and do want to share what you created, you can email me (pbates ‘at’ speakeasyinfo dot net) a photo of your creation, along with any links you’d like me to include in the results post on May 29th (i.e. your website, your shop, your blog, etc.).  

AND if you have a blog, I think it would be Awesome Dawson if your blog joined in the fun. Feel free to use the images above in a post to challenge your own readers to create. If you’d link back to this original post so your readers can see what this is all about, that’d be wicked nice and a ton of fun.  . If you do blog about this challenge, send me a link to your challenge no.1 post and I’ll include it on a list of blogs that are participating and share on the muse.  I hope you’ll plan on doing a results post too, that can be included on the a list in my results post, so we can see how far the ripple spread. If you are planning on a results post on May 29^th, let me know so I can include a link to your blog in my results post. Got all that?

Let’s CREATE a bigger wave together. Can I get a holla back on that? How about an amen?

If you want your CREATE challenge masterpiece to be included in the results post, send me photos of your creation (pbates ‘at’ speakeasyinfo dot net) by end of day (12am est), Tuesday, May 27^th.   CREATE Challenge no. 1 results to be posted on Thursday, May 29th.^.

I’m psyched to see what CREATE challenge no. 1 prompts you all to make.  

I know you guys are going to rock this.

Remember, no rules. 

Now, have at it!

Make it a great day today. It’s a great day to have.

Ciao for now,