Creativty and Inspiration

Hey there my friends!!!!


We are just a week away from the National Scrapbooking Day! (nex Saturday, May 5)...  and how many times have we talked about this great hobby that motivates ourselves to create, imagine, show our work and relieve stress?  Ah! Scrapbooking is a blessing!  It's incredible how can one "disconnect" from negative thoughts and stressful situations when creating.  Most of my scrapbooking friends did not even know they have a talent or the passion for scrapbooking until they tried it.  And something I have always shared with you is that when this hobby starts to be stressful, then it stopped being a hobby. I believe scrapbooking has got into my life to stay.

If scrapbooking can do good for you, imagine what it can do for others in a more stressful situation.  And imagine what you can do for others through scrapbooking.  I have a new blogger friend as a guest today.  Her name is Melanie and she writes in the Mesothelioma Cancer Awareness Blog.

My new friend Melanie has written a great guest post for all of us, and I hope you enjoy it as well as I did, and can share with people in your lives so we continue fighting against this horrible disease called cancer.  I love these words from Melanie:  "Every illness has its limitations, but I firmly believe that positivity and creativity go hand in hand on an individual’s path to healing and quality of life." 

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Creativity and Inspiration: Overall Wellness (by Melanie Bowen)

A cancer diagnosis should not hold you back from being a whole person. Creativity can be an outlet to channel fears and frustrations about diagnosis, treatment and other obstacles into a positive form to share with the world. Many great artists battled with cancer and used an art form to release stress. In fact, Ansel Adams, one of America’s famous artists battled with cancer and used photography as his outlet. Ansel Adams left an incredible mark on the world with black and white landscape photography. His artwork continues to impact the world even today. Use Ansel’s story as inspiration to begin your journey to creativity and greatness.

How Creativity Helps
Being creative does not mean you have to be Ansel Adams or famous at all. It is simply a way to relieve stress and participate in an activity that is fun. Photography, scrapbooking and crafting can help people feel better about their prognosis and produce artwork that is meaningful or aesthetically appealing. Some people sell their creations to raise money for cancer research or their own cancer treatments. Other people simply create for fun. Either approach to creativity is effective.

The activity should serve as a stress-reliever and not a chore. If the activity is no longer fun, try another creative outlet. There are so many ways to be creative and inspire yourself and others. The point is to nurture your spirit, provide an outlet for inner expression and work towards a goal that diverts your attention away from constant focus on your health and treatment.

Most patients know that mood can affect stress level which may trigger the release of hormones in the body which may be adverse to your condition. Creativity can keep stress levels down and help the body’s natural mechanisms fight cancer. With a creative outlet, your quality of life will improve significantly. You will feel inspired, and you will heal faster as you improve your outlook on life.  

Ideas for Creative Outlets
Photography: Buy a camera and explore your area or the world to find interesting subject matters. There is so much beauty and inspiration in the world waiting to be captured on film. Everyone is inspired by something different. Whether inspired by landscapes, inanimate objects, or portraits of people, select what inspires you and share your inspiration with your friends, family and supporters.

Scrapbooking: Take your photographs and make a scrapbook of memories. The scrapbook can be akin to photojournalism. The scrapbook can describe your journey, another person’s journey or something totally unrelated to illness. Scrapbooking is recommended for anyone. whether you have breast cancer, diabetes, arthritis or mesothelioma prognosis—the final product can be a gift or just stored for memories.

Crafting: Crafting is an excellent idea. People can make personalized bath salts, lip balm, crocheted blankets or knitted scarves to promote pampering The repetition of making something can help to divert your attention to something other than your condition. Your final product will provide a sense of accomplishment.

Check out a lot more information on wellness at the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance. 

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Show your solidarity by leaving your comment here for Melanie, and if possible link this post in your blog so we can reach even more people.  Thanks.

Your Wings Exist!

I love this message... Your Wings Exist...  It's like reminding you that you can do whatever you want and you have a great power.  Sometimes we need to get reminded, don't you think?  But don't you forget to remind others, so we help each other in the path of life.

A coworker resigned recently to work with another company.  We wish them the best of success and we know he'll really grow professionally.  He's dedicated, creative, has attention to details and listen!!!

So I made this card for him so he could have a token of appreciation from our side, for all the work and passion he has shown in a daily basis.

I used coordinated patterned paper from DCWV... I love these stacks because you know you'll have a lot of papers of great quality, already coordinated and ready to use!  These are from the Natural Matstack from the Premium line.

I used this stamp from Unity that I bought recently.  It's from "Your Wings Exist" kit and I just love it.  It comes with another 3 great stamps.  One of them is a little girl in a with extended arms and the wind blowing her hair... and it's gorgeous.  I did not want to use this image because I wanted to have a "male" looking card, but I love the message and I thought it was very appropriate for the occasion.  Don't you think?

Chipboard wings and star are from Fancy Pants, and the metal message from Portafolia.

I distressed the Core-dinations card-stock piece I used for the message/sentiment, and inked the edges with a gold ink from Dew Drop.

I'm also posting this link to show the card in the Unity blog today, since we are making projects with teal and craft colors.  I used more craft than teal, but there's the beauty of scrapbooking... Everyone will end up with so many different versions, styles, projects... I love this hobby!

So I hope you liked this card or somehow inspired you...  Let me know by leaving some love.... Your comments are appreciated.

:)

A Card with a Sketch

 Hey there!

Mother's Day is coming and I haven't done any cards or thought about any gifts... OMG!  This is what I've said to myself all these days when arriving home from work!  

So, today, I decided to at least cut some papers to feed the need for the hobby!!! 

I'm not very used to sketches, but I saw this one from Scrapping Everyday Miracles and I thought I could use it for a card.  You can see the sketch I'm talking about HERE.

And this is the card...

I used patterned papers from DCWV and chipboard letters from EK Success.  I distressed the circle background and inked with Color Box ink.

The flowers are from Portafolia and the pearls from "e."brand.

The sentiment stamp is from a "Spanish Memories".

I think it's kind of cool I used the sketch for a card instead of a Layout.   You know I love to be imperfect!!!   I usually don't use sketches because I don't usually follow the rules (at least when talking about scrapbooking), but I've found great inspirations on them lately.

Let me share some other quick cards I also made tonight before I'm gone to bed...

This is the inside of the card:

Have a good night, day, and rest of the week.  Don't forget to leave me your comment. 

Wall Art 2

Hello there my friends.

Remember the project of the wall art for my office? No? Well CLICK HERE to remember before continue reading because this is a continuation... Then come back...

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Ready?

Well... so this is one of the other projects for my office. It's a simple message I really like and try to apply to my life everyday: Attitude is Everything. And I really think it is! Or at least, it is a crucial part of everything. Same situations can happen to different people, and the attitude towards them is key to the results... key to how the processes evolve... key to what others think of you, or learn from you... or how you impact them, or how you will feel afterwards...

So I used a patterned paper from a Basic Grey collection as background, and cut the message with Cricut machine (several cartridges).

I am sorry for this bad photo with the reflection in the glass but you've got the idea of how it looks in the frame.

Here's a picture of the three frames ready to take to my office...

I made a fourth one!... Still have not framed it because I broke the glass :( But I wanted to share with you this abstract one...

This is my hand... I painted the palm of my hand with pink acrylic paint (what a mess!), and placed it in the chosen cardstock (which is from the Pearl collection of American Crafts)...

I also made my husband do the same... with blue paint. As you can see he was a little bit less "aggressive" with the paint and the mess... but you can get is another hand... And this is really what I wanted: abstract images to communicate my message...

Then I made my dog do the same... This time I used an ink pad from Memento... and don't worry, he is so obedient and calm that it was very easy to stamp his paw and rapidly clean it... so he could be part of this artwork... actually the most important part for my message... you'll see... keep reading.

I used some embellishments and elements with same colors and theme of "my message"... bone (dogs), fulfillment or success (star), happiness (bright colors, flourishes), love (heart), etc...

I painted a heart with white acrylic paint... and hand wrote my message. It says: "Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole".

I stamped several abstract images, and sprayed mist for the final touches of my composition. Stressed the edges and painted... also placed in top of a sack cloth to make it more rustic and imperfect.

Here's the full view!

Here's another picture without flash so you can appreciate details with different illumination.

I will buy a new frame and am ready to decorate my office with these frames... I am sure this personal touch will make me feel even better at work.

I hope you liked them... Please let me know by leaving a message to this post. :)

Scrapping Everyday Miracles

When I read the name of this blog I immediately identified with it... You know I love to scrap everyday things...just because this is life!

So there is this challenge #15 to scrap about someone in your life who says or does silly things... My husband has such a great sense of humor...and this is one of the things I love about him. There's a lot of things I could use for this challenge but I chose one thing he does almost everytime we take pictures. He does not have the ability to pose seriously or in a "normal" pose... he has to do something funny, or make a funny face, or kiss me suddenly at the moment of the photo...

This is something he does regularly so I decided to title the LO "It's his trademark".

I also used question marks because you don't know what he's going to come up with next time you take a picture... so it's always a surprise!!!

For the words "It's his" I place stickers in the paper, inked the area and then removed the stickers... so it's like a permanent "mark"...

The curvy journaling goes like this:

"There's always a cool surprise when I take self pictures of me and John! He sometimes just kiss me suddenly or make funny faces to the camera. I always wonder what he will do next time. It's his trademark! Well, I love it when he does it!"

Hope you like it. You can see more information about the challenge HERE.

And thanks for your comments.

Easter Again?

Well... it's not that it's Easter Day again... but I guess we celebrate Easter the whole year because it's HIS resurrection... so we should celebrate HIS life all year...

But the title is "Easter Again?" because I want to share some other cards I made for Easter... and something else...

Very quick and easy card... stamp from Inkadinkado, colored with pencils and a little bit of glossy accents...

Placed in a square and some fun shapes to frame the image and to make it the star of the card...

Another fun card, very suitable for kids... Remember the grass I cut for my goddaughter's basket? Well... I used the "negative" for this card. It's grass anyway!

The bunny is from a stamp (Inkadinkado too!), the cloud is hand cut, the Easter banner is from AC patterned paper and then I rubbed on the letters. Paper from TAC.

Fun, isn't it?

And finally, wanted to share this wine we discovered... It's from New Zealand... I am not very familiar with NZ wines... but this is very refreshing... It's like you would be feeling the aroma of a green apple, fresh grass... Very appropriate for Spring! hahahahaha....

This one is from 2010... And for a Sauvignon Blanc, it tastes a little sweeter than I'm used to, but so good... You should try it!

We paired it with ceviche (home made ceviche, so not quite the best, but for us, it was... I made it!). I recommend this marriage...

Remember your comments are always expected, and extremely appreciated.

:)

Happy Easter

Happy Easter!!!!!!

Feliz Día de Pascua Florida!!!!

Today's a special day. Celebrating resurrection, hah? Well... some people might be at Church, others at the beach, others at home... I don't know if has nothing to do with right or wrong, but as long as you are with your family and loved ones, it's got to be a special day. Enjoy it.

Hoy es un día especial. Celebrando resurrección, ah? Bueno... algunas personas podrían estar en la iglesia, otras en la playa, otras en la casa... Yo no sé si tiene algo que ver con correcto o incorrecto, pero siempre y cuando estén en familia y con los seres queridos, será un día especial. Disfrútenlo.

I had this little egg carton I received a while ago in my office as a promotional article advertising a company. It was clever... and I immediately thought "I am going to use this for a project".

Tenía este pequeño cartón de huevos que recibí hace un tiempo en mi oficina como un articulo promocional que anunciaba una compañía. Fue una gran idea... y yo inmediatamente pensé: "Voy a usar esto para algún proyecto".

So I placed my Easter eggs filled with chocolates in the carton and closed it. Covered with cardstock and embellished.

Así que coloqué mis huevos de Pascua llenos de chocolates en el cartón y lo cerré. Cubrí con cardstock y adorné.

This was just a part of it. I also cut some oval shapes with my Cricut machine (using Plantin Schoolbook cartridge), on some scrap paper I have left from other projects. I added some ribbons and elements to simulate Easter eggs.

Pero esto era solamente parte de ello. También corté óvalos con la máquina Cricut (usando Plantin Schoolbook), en algunos pedazos de papel de los que me sobran de otros proyectos. Añadí algunas cintas y elementos para simular huevitos de Pascua.

Cut some grass from the same cartridge... and inked the edges.

Corté grama con el mismo cartucho y le pinté los bordes.

I glued the grass to a basket. I used hot glue cause thought it's going to be safer to avoid this getting out when my goddaughter plays with the basket. I glued two rows of grass.

Pegué la grama en una canasta. Usé pega caliente porque pensé será más seguro para evitar que se despegue cuando mi ahijada juegue con la canasta. Pegué dos filas de grama.

Placed the eggs in the grass all around the basket.

Coloqué los huevos en la grama alrededor de la canasta.

Then glued some fiber ribbon around to cover the edge and filled the basket.

Entonces pegué fibra alrededor para cubrir los bordes y llené la canasta.

This is how I ended up with a fun Easter basket, which I hope my goddaughter enjoys.

Liked it? I'll be waiting your comments.

Happy Easter.

Así fue que terminé con una canasta de Easter súper divertida, la cual espero mi ahijada disfrute.

Les gustó? Espero sus comentarios.

Feliz Día de Pascua Florida!

Card Challenge sketch

Knock knock...

Visiting some blogs from scrapbooking friends, I found this post from Rosita, about a card made for a challenge: HERE.

I was wanting to make an Easter card and I thought this could be an opportunity to make it, following the sketch from Latina Crafter, HERE.

Then I thought it could be cool to use this stamp from TAC and paint it with colored pencils.

I also used some Glossy Accents after painting the stamp...

Look at this big Easter egg as the background element in the sketch.

Hope you liked it!!!!