Monday Meandering 6.15.2015

It's been pretty dry around here lately. Not weather-wise, but creatively. I have been experiencing creative block - no creative energy to do art or to write. And it has been so painful! Especially since I had a stay-cation last week and wanted to get a lot done creatively.This is one of the prices I pay when I get overly busy or stressed or overly busy and stressed. I need to keep those two things away from me!

So what did I do in the midst of my creative block?  My daughter was in town for a short visit so she and I made a trip up to IKEA and then we had a family dinner. We traveled to Cleveland for our nephew's high school graduation party. I cleaned and organized my office/studio a bit - this activity will sometimes get me out of a creative rut - but it didn't work right away this time. So, I focused on making some altered book journals for my Etsy shop. Two are already in the shop and the rest will be posted over the next few days.

Then I decided to try and read some of The Creative Call. This is the book we are reading for the first His Kingdom Come community book club. In the busyness of May I got behind. So I picked up in chapter 3 and started doing the recommended morning writings and by Thursday afternoon I started feeling like I had some inspiration. And, boy, did it feel good! Getting creative and playing with art are so restorative and refreshing for me, so being in a place of creative block is frustrating. The Creative Call is all about connecting to your creativity. Janice Elsheimer addresses inspiration in chapter 3: 

"Throughout this week and the weeks to come, whether you are writing in your artist's daybook, observing the world around you, praying, listening to the prompting of the Spirit, exercising, or taking care of the ordinary tasks of daily living, remind yourself that you are awakening. Be gentle with yourself, but banish the idea that you can wait until you are "in the mood" or "inspired"to get busy with your art. This journey is not about doing what we feel like doing; it's about doing what we must. As L'Engle says, "Inspiration far more often comes during the work than before it because the largest part of the job of the artist is to listen to the work and to go where it tells him." " The Creative Call, pg 49

Quotes from chapter 3

Yesterday I got a nice surprise when I received the newsletter from Vintage Page Designs in my inbox. I had uses Ali's instruction to make the notebook for my Creative Call notes and art. Ali selected my notebook for her post featuring books made by her readers in her June 6 blog post.

Our theme for the Take Me Deeper devotions for June is family. In the first week we looked at creation, the Trinity, and our need for relationship. I focused on creation.

We have a blog hop for His Kingdom Come on Saturday to share some exciting news. So stop back on Saturday and see my contribution.

The Creative Call Art Journal Notebook

Our community at His Kingdom Come is starting a book club in a few weeks. Our first book is The Creative Call: An Artist's Response to the Way of the Spirit by Janice Elsheimer. I decided to make my own notebook after reading a tutorial by Ali Manning at Vintage Page Designs. The cover is made from a single piece of  heavy stock paper and has two signatures attached with a very simple sewing method. I made it a size where my signatures could be 8.5x11 pieces of paper folded in half. I covered the front and back with a variety of pages I had painted on the Gelli Plate and added some deli paper accents. I even make the plant sprig stamp from a foam sheet! I needed a fun project to rejuvenate my creativity and energy and this did the trick!

I used a thinner paper for my pages then I normally use and it puckered on the flip-side when I adhered the accents. So on the next one I'll use watercolor paper. I'm ready to fill the pages with quotes and art! The book club begins in May and anyone can join us. Head over to the His Kingdom Come website and check us out!

We are ending a nice weekend visiting my family in Michigan for my niece's baby shower. We are all housed at my sister's (Bliss Cottage) and it has been a beautiful Spring weekend at the lake. I especially love the lake early in the morning when it is calm and reflecting the world around it.

I hope you all have a good week. It's a busy one around here. We are hosting a conference this week at my church/job and then I head down to Florida for a long weekend where the HKC foundation team is getting together for a retreat. Enjoy your week!