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Showing posts from September, 2011

The Flea Market Arrived

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A couple of weeks ago, Trina at the The Paper Flea Market , had a water-damage related sale - the deal was $10 for a Priority Mail box. I love surprises and have done business with her before so I didn't hesitate. The biggest surprise was when I realized just how many treasures were jam packed in the box... I can't imagine the value of the amazing stuff she sent me, but I suspect it would fetch quite a bit more than $10!! Game pieces, fabrics, tons of papers, post cards, playing cards, photographs, an entire book... I love the vintage school work - who doesn't remember practicing the alphabet on ruled sheets (that were white at the time:), or the visual method for learning vocabulary - always my favorite. These days every credit card comes with a reward or point system which has done away with the exquisite paper trail of old. The stamp books are a fave - I remember a really, really long time ago when my mom collected Green Stamps. She redeemed them for counter-top applianc

Stacks and Gifts

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Seth Apter's latest collaboration on The Altered Page , is the admission of our proclivity to stack. Hop on over to his blog to check out the myriad ways creativity can be piled! I immediately thought of the paper I use to protect the drawing table. Once a project is done I add the paper to the pile accumulating on a side shelf and tear off a new piece. Yes, it's brown kraft paper, but, the sheets are also a journal in a sense. I can leaf through them and see what I was working on, sketches and doodles, stamped images, holes sliced out, lists, color experiments and a host of other information - phone numbers, names, dates - because having two teenagers necessitates the answering of the phone while working in the studio. It also serves as alternative, readily-available gift wrap - what's better than recycling?! After I finished the box (below) I wrapped it with the paper I'd used and tied it with recycled sari ribbon. It may look a bit odd, but people who know m

Mildly Creative - and Then Some!

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by Ken, August, 2011 Somewhere along my search for inspiration I ran across Mildly Creative . The proprietor, Ken, may or may not have a chronic illness, but his insights as a 'Quirk in Progress' run parallel to my own thoughts and beliefs. What is better than affirmations from a like-minded creative?? Two of his recent posts hit home in a particularly relevant manner. The Courage to be Boring speaks to those of us who don't lead socially exciting or outwardly adventurous lives, but derive our meaning and happiness from our internal passions... such as writing and art. One of my favorite quotes: "The best thing I ever realized is that I’d rather be boring than bored." Limits on energy and resources due to chronic illness often force this practice though it's considering it a choice is a fine idea. My other recent fave, Doing and Failing is Better than Wishing and Waiting may sound logical and fairly obvious; however, I wonder how many creatives, aside

On the brighter side

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A big challenge when blogging about National Invisible Illness Week is avoiding rerun mode when discussing life with chronic illness. As in, wow, I was going to post every other day but suddenly it's Thursday! Oh well, a crazy barometer and the crazier schedules of the mom-taxi passengers, and so on... I decided to focus instead on a couple of CI folks who chose to contribute to the positivity flowing in cyber world. The first is Michael Nobbs , a British artist, writer and tea drinker diagnosed in the late 1990s with ME/CFS/PVFS (otherwise known as Myalgic Encephalopathy/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome). The debilitating fatigue that derails many a creative endeavor is Michael's daily existence; his philosophy, however, is about sustaining creativity in blocks of time based on available energy. He counsels that devoting even fragments of time to one's art leads to a collective body of work. He focuses on prioritizing, or as he says in his fr

Invisible Illness (Next) Week

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Though the national Invisible Illness Week doesn't officially launch until September 12th, I decided to post today because, well, I'm having a flare, probably like half the population. Yes, it's a stat; nearly 50% of us suffer from a chronic condition. It is very difficult to remain still when my dreams are so alive and energized. And when there are dirty dishes, laundry and chores that seem higher on the priority list than working in the studio, though usually not! The IIW website is a wealth of information for those of us dealing with the myriad conditions that may go unnoticed, unless of course you happen to play tennis like Venus Williams (Sjogren's Syndrome) or golf like Phil Mickelson (Psoriatic Arthritis - both just like me!). In one of my favorite articles , founder Lisa Copen writes about the fact that living with illness doesn't mean choosing giving in! Next week I'll be writing more about this year's theme, Deep Breath, Fresh Start, the modus