I have been pitifully neglectful of my blog lately. I have started several posts and not had the enthusiasm to finish them. This one may suffer the same fate but I will try again anyway.
I have been thinking about the reasons or reason that I haven't been writing and posting and most of it goes straight back to the fact that I haven't been creating, ergo I have nothing to write about. To be completely honest it's not true that I haven't created anything at all. I have begun a few projects, and I always have some half baked ideas floating around in my gray matter but I haven't created anything that I am so proud of I want to show it off on my blog.
As I write this it occurs to me that perhaps I am taking the whole thing too seriously. (As if a person can call playing with trash "serious." Under any circumstances this strikes me as a bit rediculas.) Be that as it may I think it is a big part my non productivity.
I want to have pretty finished products with professional looking photographs to post and some silly part of me thinks that these products and projects should just flow out of me like water from the tap providing a daily stream of projects and blog post. Of course the truth is that inspiration comes and goes and then there are all the other pieces of your life that require time and attention.
I do have a part-time job (although I wouldn't exactly call it work.) I also have an EBay Store that requires a fair amount of time. My poor little Etsy Store is more neglected than this blog. And of course there are all the household chores that never quite seem to be under control. I am probably just making a bunch of excuses. But life is busy for most of us and we prioritize the best we can.
I know that I shouldn't compare myself to others but sometimes I can't help it. There are so many creative people out there more talented and much more productive than I am.
Here are a few of my favorite people to envy.
A new dress a day - Yes this amazing woman actually made a new dress out of an old dress for 365 days and counting and she posts all of the projects on her blog.
A fanciful twist - The name says it all. This blog is full of beautiful photo's and happy little stories.
Crazy Aunt Purl - It's a little bit about knitting and a lot about life all shared in an hilarious way.
I read something recently that helped me take a step back. Take a deep breath and accept that I will probably never be as productive as the gal from A new dress a day, my posts will probably never be as beautiful as A Fanciful Twist or as witty and humorous as Crazy Aunt Purl, but they will be uniquely mine.
The advise was this:
"focus on asking small, interesting questions, rather than on demanding big, amazing ideas." from Ken Robert's Blog Mildly Creative Adventures In Being Human.
Which I adapted for my purposes to:
"focus on small continuous steps, rather than demanding big amazing results."
I started this blog as an experiment with the purpose of experimenting with unwanted and disposable items to see what, if anything could be done with them to give them new life. An experiment by it's very definition isn't guaranteed to be a raving success and believe me plenty of my projects are not successful. I have one train-wreck in mind right now (made from plastic hangers) that I may share in a later post. And of course there is the Green Cat Tale but to be fare I was only in 2nd grade when that happened.
Anyway I think the point I am trying to get at is that while I am a little envious of all the a fore mentioned folks they all also inspire me. Not to be like them, but to be like me. And so I am taking one small step today. I am writing this blog post and I am sharing the rather unfinished project idea that has been floating around in my head. My plan right now (which may very well go awry) is to share the process as it unfolds in what ever messy and painfully slow manner it chooses. I will try to take continuous small steps and not get so wrapped up in the fact that my projects will not make glamorous glossy magazine covers.
At any rate and with out further adieu. My semi-formed project plan is this. I have 20 T-shirts. And I want to see what I can make from them with as little waste as possible.
Here are the T-Shirts.
I would like to have called this the 20/20/20 project.
Can you hear the big radio announcer?
"Twenty Projects from twenty T-shirts in Twenty Days!!
But, well, I don't really have to explain why that is a bad idea do I?
