s...t...r...e...t...c...h... yourself.

Percival Pencil (one of my softy creations)
He's for sale at www.etsy.com/shop/quirkified

To all of my dear quirkified friends I would like to share a bit more on our habit of creativity. We've talked about so many aspects, but what about stretching yourself?


Personally, my "thing" tends to be the artsy stuff. Time literally grows wings when I'm drawing, painting, claying little bits of cuteness, crocheting, or coming up with a visual for a word picture that is running through my brain. These are my go-to's, the things that come naturally and will continue to morph over time as I practice my creativity habit.


I would say my second love is to write silly
"dr seussy" stories and then doodle cartoons to accompany them in a variety of mediums. Yes, this has a tendency to be a companion to my artsy "go-tos" but the stories are a bit more of a stretch and time tends to grow wheels instead of wings.

Maybe you are like me in wanting to explore all sorts of areas of creativity but you head back to the familiar like a mosquito to stagnant water. Maybe we need to find what stretches us but does not frustrate us. Personally I find in order to not be frustrated I have to make sure that I'm not looking at a big picture, that it needs to be something small and doable. Something that gets me excited by the success of accomplishing it, finishing it, regardless of my need for improvement or tweakage of whatever it is I'm attempting.

Some examples;
1. Set a goal. Make it just outside of your comfort zone. Just enough so you know you'll learn something but not be overwhelmed by time or the amount of effort required. (side note, I'm working toward being in a Craft Fair the first week in December. Putting together items and thinking of how to best display and attract is a stretch for me.)

2. Do something that you might not consider to be in your creative repertoire, but you find yourself thinking about doing. For me, this is cooking! I've never been much of a food person, yet with the dawning of Pinterest and all the lovely enticements pictured on these boards I find myself wanting to attempt some of them. A small goal for someone like me would be to make a dessert or an appetizer to share with friends or family, someplace safe that will accept my meager offerings without too much teasing or critique. (a little bit of a soft landing during your stretch is more than an acceptable compromise, since you are stepping out)

I hope these stretching suggestions are something you can relate to and be encouraged to reach for, hey we're in this together..

UPDATE: When I originally wrote this entry I was busily preparing for the aforementioned craft fair that has now transpired as of this past weekend. I'm more than delighted to say that it was an exhausting blast and that I learned SO much from the experience. Displaying items that you have invested time and effort into creating can make you feel very vulnerable, but I found that it was more than worth it. Some minor successes occurred and lessons were learned so I would add this to the "plus" column in my endeavor toward the creativity habit.

Blessings on all of your heads, I will talk with y'all soon:)
xoxo
r

What are we here for?

Welcome my old friends and new ones as well, this little blog will be a work in progress as I endeavor to share, learn and glean about all things blog-like and computer world related all with the pin-pointed focus on creativity and how that relates to God and real life.

The purpose behind this bit of writing is to encourage myself and others that we can be creative, every.single.day. God designed us for a purpose and we each have a unique way to express ourselves; art, poetry, music. Those are the "go-to" creative categories where we tend to wedge our abilities. Yet, being able to run a household, getting along with others (aka, tact), finances, organization, and SO many more, are ways that God has gift-wrapped our particular DNA. All we have to do? (welllll, all? sounds simple, yes?) is to figure out our sweet spot. What it is that floats our boat, gets our juices flowing, makes "time fly when we're having fun" and every other platitude that will encourage us to DO SOMETHING.

Recently, in the past year, I have had a revelation through the encouragement of my mom, sister-in-law and husband (you will often hear of Timmy, for those of you that don't know us, he IS my husband but we've known each other so long that I'm not changing my name for him, "Timmy",  to adjust to any stigma attached to the fact that we are grandparents and being courted by AARP.) anyway, these people and many more, I might add, are responsible for my desire to finally attempt to be creative on a regular basis. I've always had a goal in mind to sell my crafty wares and artistic dalliances through some type of venue that would allow me to have feedback and also be "doable". Etsy has become the crafters haven for all things handmade so I thought I would join the throng, and drag my dear mother along for the adventure.

So this is why we are here, on this blog…to be crafty and creative and to enjoy and share ways to encourage each other to follow after what God has placed in our hearts and minds that will express the unique gifts He has given us.

From here? go to Facebook, and "like" our new "Quirkified". Let's keep in contact in a variety of ways and make this a way to communicate. Thanks for reading, and let me know what you think!!
xoxo
r
Isaiah 64:8

But now, O LORD, You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our potter;

 And all of us are the work of Your hand.

- See more at: http://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Creativity#sthash.jp8sEpyr.dpuf