Crafting, Scrapbooking, Mixed Media and Altered Art - day 9 of the UBC Challenge

Here we are on day 9 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. Time is zipping by faster than fast. If you have been following my blogs, you know by now that I have two favorite pastimes genealogy and crafting. The latter of the two is what I'm going to share with you today.

Crafting and Creativity

Before I begin though, I want to apologize for the white space around my photos. This drives me batty. Ever since Blogger did some upgrades last year, I have not for the life of me been able to figure out 'how' to remove it. I've looked on YouTube, I've googled it, and nothing I do seems to work. IF you know how to remove the white borders, please let me know. I would very much appreciate it!!!

C R E A T I V I T Y - have you ever looked up the word? The Oxford Dictionary defines creativity as the use of the imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of artistic work. 

Are you an artistic person? If so, what do you create? Maybe a painter, or a craftsman of a particular medium related to art? I tend to dabble in a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Scrapbooking, Mixed Media, Altered Art, Junk Journals, Paper Crafting - my mind is always thinking of ways I can use things I see laying on the ground or along the side of the road in my craft projects.

I find crafting and creativity to be extremely therapeutic and relaxing for the most part. Sometimes though, when I am under the gun on time (so to speak) ...I feel flustered if I don't have the time needed to completely focus on my project. It stresses me out more than I care to admit. I'm having to juggle hours in the day and many times, end up staying up into the wee hours of the morning to work in the quietness of the darkness just so I can focus and complete the task at hand. Have you ever found yourself in a position like this while crafting? How do you handle it? 

Crafting is one of the coping tools. Many years ago, when I was going through a very dark time in my life, I learned about coping tools and the role they play in a person's life. I found crafting to be my happy place. My calm. My respite. I can literally lose myself to all matter of time when I am crafting and in the zone. 

I do this too when I am 'walking with the ancestors'. I can't tell you how many times I have sat down at my desk at 6:00 a.m. in the morning, only to get up for the random bathroom breaks or to let the dog outside, only to look at the clock and see that the day has almost come to an end! Yes, it's those days that I am truly in the zone...I haven't had many of those days lately. These days, I'm good to get 2 or 3 hours of quality time crafting and/or genealogy on any day. 

When I started out, I was crafting your typical scrapbook layouts. I didn't have any of the fancy scissors, scoring boards, unique themed papers, or even one sheet of Designer paper in my possession. 

What I did have were old magazines, a pair of sewing scissors, and a bottle of Elmer's Glue, or maybe even a glue stick. I also had plenty of letters (A-Z in assorted font size and styles), words, and random pictures (flowers, people, landscapes, etc.) cut out or torn by hand and sorted by letter or image in folders I made from cereal boxes. 

one of my early scrapbook pages

I have been doing this type of crafting since I was in my childhood. Through the years, I began adding little things to my crafting accessories. A better pair of scissors. Better wet adhesive. Even double-sided tape.

early scrapbooking

a layout my daughter created in one of my books

Over the years, I have had my crafting area set up on a small worktable. The kitchen table, on a folding table, In two regular-sized bedrooms and now I am in a smaller bedroom with so many wonderful things I could probably open a small store. 

from this to...

this

I have given things away, sold things, and even donated crafting goodies to different organizations. I have been destashing now for a while. I don't craft like I once did, and the goodies are overwhelming today. I look around me and think to myself I need to make this; I need to do that. I have that tub of photos that need to be scrapbooked and so forth and so on...I'm sure you get the picture. 

Through the years, I piddled with mixed media projects. I even have done a few altered art projects. I incorporated both techniques into my scrapbooking. I even started sewing on my scrapbook layouts. It's mind-boggling where a crafter's mind goes while trying to create. Do you feel like this when you craft? If so, how do you harness it, or do you go with the flow of the creativity? 

Would you believe me if I told you the flowers in the last photo above were from a toilet seat cover? They were...creativity, the options are so many. 

I've had to downsize my inventory a great deal since we relocated a couple of years ago. We moved into a smaller house with less room. I mean...a RIDICULOUSLY small house. THIS created a huge dilemma for me and my crafting goodness. My husband and son in law jokingly say, "I have more stuff in my craft room than there is in the rest of the house". That might be true, but I am destashing even still today.  Gone are the days of having two large bedrooms set up with all my crafting goodness to feeling like I am going to be swallowed up by the crafting abyss at times. I continue to destash here and there. 

I have gotten rid of my Cricut and all the accessories. I have sold rubber and acrylic stamps and sets from time to time. I still have a huge amount of them that are sitting in a tub not being used. 

I have sold paper and embellishments that I no longer want or need. I have sold lace, flowers, ribbons, and everything else in between. At one time, I even posted to sell the entire room for a nice sum of money. I had a few bites, but they wanted me to practically give the stuff away. I am generous and have given many things away over the years...but I have a small fortune wrapped up with all this goodness. 

I'm creating more Junk Journals today than before. Mixed media and altered art come into play nearly every time I set down to bring one of my journals to life. I have fun creating beautiful things from my heart and soul. 

I have a few mixed media canvas ideas floating around in my head that I want to tackle here in the next few weeks. But until then...I'll continue working on Junk Journals and whatever else comes to mind. Creativity...it never stops. 

I'm still in the process of downsizing my crafty goodness. My loss will be somebody else's gain. I hope they find comfort and enjoyment out of it all like I have so many times. Don't fret though, I'm NOT getting rid of all of it...

CREATIVITY, what are you creating today? 

Heart to Heart Soul Creations

H2hsc2020

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