When I was in elementary school - or maybe it was middle school (*shrug*) - one of my teachers told me she found it interesting that I was “academically inclined” as well as largely “artsy-fartsy”. Hmph! ‘Round my way, we call that VERSATILE…WELL-ROUNDED…SKILLED. LOL

It’s not secret that I am a lover of words…writing them, reading them (finished another book this week! Woohoo!), speaking them….

But, I am a bit “artsy fartsy”…love music, played flute for a minute in school, can draw a little, had a few dreams of being an actress (but I was a bit too shy for all of that & a wee bit afraid of…well…neva mind…that’s a whole ‘nother blog topic)…

Anywho, I find that many creative-minded people have more than one creative outlet. Writing would be primary for me but…I’m a bit “crafty” if I do say so myself.

Here’s a project (ok a “prototype”) I completed last year.

Not bad huh? Got a few more to work on. Hopefully, I’ll get to them in the near future. It was supposed to be a gift of sorts but um…well…you know…

Right now, between doing “deep decluttering” in my house and getting some major writing done, I’m looking forward to completing a craft project involving these plates:

I snagged the set on clearance during the holidays as a bday gift to myself. i could very easily prop them up in plate-holders and put them on the counter. Or put them on a plate shelf. But…I’on wanna do that. I could hang them on the wall without a case but they didn’t come with the hook/wire attached and I don’t want to take a chance of adding that and having them fall off the wall. I would cry. For real.

What I *think* I want to do is create/buy a shadow box to house them in. Add some black cloth to the background, maybe toss in some shells and then add them to the wall in the kitchen/dining room.

Love those plates. Very colorful. Just wish there was some menfolk in them. *sigh*

After THAT project is complete, I need to move on to displaying potholders my brother snagged while in the Philippines. They’re made to look like the logos of certain products (like Pork-n-Beans, Welch’s grape jelly, etc). Pretty cool. I have some “bamboo-ish” frames that the potholders will fit into BUT…I need to find something to cover them with…some glass, plexiglass….something. that’s going to be very tricky because the glass would need to be EXTREMELY thin to fit in the sides of the trays. I think I have 6 potholders. When I figure out the cases for them, they’re going on the wall in the kitchen above the stove.

I won’t even begin to tell you how many other projects I have. (In all my decluttering, I have yet to tackle the basket of crafting supplies). Because I craft in spurts, I generally try to create a prototype so I’ll know what I was trying to do when time permits and I can get back to it. (Like my “idea” file for my writing cause I can NOT hold all that in my head. Don’t have enough room. Not with all the voices that live in my head. LOL)

Anywho, I think getting back to crafting this year will provide additional balance to my life. When I’m stumped on a writing project, I can rest my ‘writing mind’ and go crafting. When I need a break from both of those, there’s always a good book to be read. Or…good music to be found and listened to.

So….how do YOU sharpen YOUR creative edge?