A break does wonders for creativity

I hope everyone’s summer has been fun and relaxing. Our certainly was. We travelled to Colombia and had a great time with family and friends. If you follow me on Instagram you caught some glimpses there and I’m posting some here. I think it was a big break we were all needing. As I’m sure many of you have experienced, when we travel we get forced into a totally different world that gets out of our routine and it’s so refreshing. I’m a much better mom, wife and creative person when I’ve had a break like this — who wouldn’t be?

We stayed with family and got to experience everything between the cool mountain weather and a warmer 80s pool, sun bathing type of climate. When it’s 60ºF outside every day and you’ve just come from a daily 90-100ºF, you’re in heaven! The food was to die for (Colombian food always is), the sightseeing was amazing (I always miss the mountains), we got some hiking done (I’m in horrendous shape – already knew that — just confirmed it… again!), and we got to celebrate our 20 year anniversary a few days ahead of time. It was an all around great, great trip.

While I was away I had a lot of time to think about where I am creatively and how I want to move forward. Since my full-time job takes up most of the hours of my week my options are limited. If I had it my way, I’d just sleep 3 hours every night and spend my time making, designing, making. I LOVE working at night – but alas I do have to take care of myself and not turn into a walking zombie — ha!

So, what’s left is a limited amount of time for a limited amount of project. I’d rather make less but projects I’m proud of, than many half-thought through projects. This obviously affects my frequency of posts and product offerings. I want to accelerate the pace and I have a plan for that so hopefully you’ll be seeing the effects of that soon.

In the meantime I’m still trying to catch up with the See the Light Ornaments. I hope you’re enjoying the projects. It’s been an interesting mental challenge for me. I want them to be interesting shapes and fun to make at the same time. I hope that it’s working. Here are shots of the four ornaments that are posted so far. I love how they look with just white paper but I can see them made in all sorts of color combinations.

Speaking of handmade. The amount of artisan work that I see in Colombia every time we go always blows my mind. There’s so much amazing detail, color and craftsmanship that it’s surprising I don’t have to buy an extra suitcase to bring back everything I’d love to buy. Amazingly, I was very conservative with my purchases this time. I’m in the midst of wanting to go to bare minimum at home so bringing back more stuff was not on my wish list. My purse strings certainly appreciated my restraint.

Finally, you’ve probably noticed that my latest project, the Dahlia Shadow Gift Box is now available. It was definitely inspired by all the flowers I saw and dahlias were everywhere! The layered effect of the flowers is something I’ve been wanting to try for a while. I just hadn’t come up with the most appropriate idea for it. It finally happened and I love it.

So, this is where I’m at. I want to work more, I’m carving out the time, and more is coming. After finally coming back to reality, catching up with work (and laundry!!), I feel very ready to tackle my wish list. I can’t wait. Seriously, can’t wait.

As always, please feel free to email me with suggestions or just to say hello. I love when I get an email from any of you. I love hearing what your thoughts are about a particular project, your comments about anything creative, and any ideas you have to improve the shop.

Have a great week everyone!