Where new began

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Uprooting and moving to another country is a major upheaval - so many new things to get used to (culture, language, services, etc.). Little did I know when I boxed up my creative studio that it would be more than a year before it was all laid out again. It's a long story (moving from Scandinavia to a little Greek island) but as you can imagine, after more than a year you have creatively moved on. Only thing is that when you haven't been creative in all this time you don't actually know how you have moved on. 

During all this time I've followed many other artists and getting creatively tickled but I somehow seemed unable to tap into my own creative source - a creative writers block. If you've tried it you'll know how hair-pulling'ly frustrating this can be! Anyhow, at some point i got caught by how several people talked about the fun they were having with mixed media artist Christy Tomlinson's online paint & journal workshops. Words like fun, playfulness and creative mess kept appearing and I thought; this is what I need to get going again! Just being able to play and not being too serious - no need for perfect end results. So I signed up at the same time as also joining in for the yearly Great Big Card Swap. What a strangely serendipitous concoction!! Before I started making my card for the swap I watched some of Christy's inspirational videos. This girl truly masters creative fun, playfulness and the art of abandon - just being able to go with the flow and not minding too much where it all lands up, and yet her creations are just gorgeous messy perfections. I love it! 

So of course I'm thinking; I've gotta try this. Only thing is that when I started playing it looked like blah! and there seemed to be no flow whatsoever. But still, when I watched Christy's first few videos I got two major AHA moments or personal insights - some that truly rocked my creative foundation (more about them at some later point). And I somehow felt that it didn't matter if this attempt at journalling didn't work for me because I got two huge gifts (insights) which was obviously what I was meant to come there for. Feeling strangely freed up I instead started playing with ideas for the card. At first a bit careful and tentative (and it apeared a bit boring too!) but then I decided to give it a go with the two new insights I'd just had - and magic began to appear (at least for me). Creative juices started to flow!

I'll write more about my two gifts at some other point and just leave you with this snippet of the finished card. It's made from three layers - linen, vintage lace and a darling floral vintage fabric, several different threads (machine and hand stitched), thrift store buttons, beads, sequins and paper. The theme was BLOOM (which I handstitched into the piece) and I added the text: "Don't forget to smell the flowers on your way."

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