Creatively Speaking: Secret Projects

So Creatively Speaking has been absent for a few weeks now. And that is because I was making my sister's birthday present and I didn't want her to discover what it was.

But now I have given her the present I can now tell you what it is.

I made her two tealight things (I can't really call them holders as they sit over the tealight rather than the tealight sits in it).

This is one of them - as I said I made two, the other one is a lot creepier and darker looking. And when I say tealights, they are battery operated tealights as it is likely you would set this one fire if you used real tealights.

Anyway the point of this post is to direct you to my inspiration for this project.

I got this idea from a YouTuber called Drachenfang. The pumpkins he makes are a lot bigger and more waterproof as they are designed to go outside. The ones I have made are about the size of a large grapefruit, whereas the form Drachenfang made for his was about the size of a beach ball.


The videos take you all the way through the project from beginning to end - here is a link to the first one.

He goes in to a lot of detail, tells you exactly what you will need, gives a lot of advice and is entertaining too.

Due to the size difference I changed some of the materials slightly and tweaked some of the steps as my pumpkins didn't need to be quite so waterproof.

It's kind of late to make any for this Halloween, but you can always make preparations and start getting organised for Halloween 2017!

Creatively Speaking... Or Should That Be Writing?

Don't you just love those moments?

The ones where you've got several story ideas and suddenly a couple of them crash together to form one super story?

I love those moments.

I've been furiously scribbling down notes this week after such a moment happened to me.

I had one character, a character that I had had a crack at writing a story for but it just didn't seem to sit right.

And then on the other side of my brain I had a group of characters, or maybe more of a concept. I knew there was a group I wanted to write about but wasn't sure how their story would unfold.

But then the first character who was lost in their own story crashed in to the other group (in my head it was kind a like when to wrestlers propel themselves off of opposite sides of the ring into each other).

And lo and behold my character now has a story that suits them more. And I can see what the purpose of the other group of characters will be.

So know I'm writing down notes and trying to outline the story (hopefully that will be completed before the start of NaNoWriMo 2016).

I've already realised that the story and the characters are too big for one book (unless I was willing to write a 1000 pager like some authors do so I've already worked out how to split the story up in to a trilogy.

When was your last eureka moment when it came to writing?

Creatively Speaking: DramaticParrot

I recently decided to take up drawing again - well I'd got all the supplies just lying around so why not?

But another one of the reasons I decided to start drawing again was being subscribed to the YouTuber DramaticParrot who makes tutorials for art and crafts.

I've had a go at a few of her drawing tutorials and they haven't turned out half bad. She gives very clear instructions and breaks each sketch down in to basic shapes before starting on the details.

Here are just a couple that I've tried:

Til next time...

Creatively Speaking: So Much Sewing Needs Doing!

There is a YouTuber by the name of Annika Victoria and she has a series on her videos called The Style Pile.

And these focus on things she has taken out of the pile of sewing she has got waiting to be dealt with.

I too have such a pile and here it is...

I can almost hear O Fortuna ~ Carmina Burana playing when I look at that photo.

But I decided to try and tackle some of it and in about an hour I'd dealt with these pieces.

OK so it's not a lot but it's a start, right?

The items at the bottom of the photo are just bits that needed a hole sewing up in them (you know that the kind of stuff that I could have easily dealt with months ago... but just couldn't be bothered... I've mentioned before that I'm kind of lazy haven't I?).

The flowery thing at the top is something that I have started work on - it's a maxi dress I got from a charity shop.

And it is bang on the right length for me (strange as I am quite petite). But I find it a bit billowy (if that is a word) so I'm going to put slits up the sides, to the knee, to try and conquer that. Push comes to shove I'll just chop the bottom off and make it knee length.

So that's 4 items (ok 3 and a bit) down only another 400 million to go!

Til next time...

Motivationally Speaking

Did you see what I did there with the title... cos usually these posts are called Creatively Speaking and... yeah ok I'll get on with it.

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago I watch a lot of YouTube videos. More than is probably good for me... but anyway in my travels across YouTube I have come across various YouTubers/videos that are designed to motivate you.

And if you listen to them... I mean really listen to what is being said then, well in my experience they are the sort of videos that make you want to get stuff done. The sort of video that makes you feel like...

Creatively Speaking: The Art Sherpa

I watch a lot of YouTube videos... I usually have about 50 on my to watch list at any one time (it's less at the moment as one of the YouTubers I watch regularly is currently taking a break - time to catch up!).

But as I voyage through YouTube I do come across some very creative people who inspire me with my own artwork/crafting.

One such YouTuber I have more recently discovered is Cinnamon Cooney who is known as The Art Sherpa.

With Cinnamon's channel you can paint along with her because she live streams her tutorials with help from her husband John. And she sometimes goes off on a tangent (but don't we all?). And she has recently been seemingly obsessed with Kevin the Kraken.

I have not put a example of one of her full tutorial videos here as because they are live streams they usually last about 1-2 hours depending on the complexity (the Kevin The Kraken video linked above only lasts 30 minutes but that's because he's being added to a painting that took an hour to paint).

On The Art Sherpa channel there are videos on various subjects, some are just straight forward tutorials that you can follow along. Some videos are more about going in to certain aspects of art in more detail for example gesso or grayscale or how to paint fur.

I've got several of her videos earmarked to have a crack at but I can show you one that I have tried. I had a go at this Seascape painting and this is the result...

I didn't paint this during the live stream, I did this after that had ended... which is a good thing as it took me at least an hour longer than Cinnamon to complete.

Now this was my first experience with pallet knives and although I have my horizon line visibly running through my wave and I overworked my clouds (both problems arising out of the fact I was far too frugal with my paint) I'm quite proud of it - I like my wave, I like the spray coming off the top of it.

And I learnt things from doing this, not only to be less stingy with my paint but also how to use palette knives (on account of the fact I bought palette knives without much knowledge on how to use them!).

And I had fun doing it! This one was definitely a strike against my perfectionism as I know it is far from perfect but I knew when to stop and I like the result all the same.

So if you want to learn a little something about painting, and have some fun while you are at it then go forth and visit The Art Sherpa.

Previously On Creatively Speaking...

Creatively Speaking came about on my other blog - the Creative Life (which may or may not still exist when you read this).

Last year when I challenged myself to do something creative every day (which I managed - all except my birthday - but if you are going to take a day off!). From March last year until the end of the year I also included doing something writing related every day.

So each week I would have a recap of creative things I had done that week, even if one day it had just been painting my nails, colouring in a page in a colouring book or reading some of a writing reference book.

So with the decision to condense my two blogs in to one I also decided to move Creatively Speaking over to this blog.

It's taken me a while to get round to this since deciding to cease writing on my other blog (but I have mentioned that I can be quite a lazy blogger!)

So here's how I think Creatively Speaking will evolve now it has moved. I will continue posting about my recent (hopefully) creative output (hopefully every week) but will intersperse these posts with posts about other creative things - there's a whole world of creative YouTubers out there!

Speaking of YouTubers on my old creative blog I also occasionally posted links and videos that I had found motivational and/or helpful, something I plan to continue over here.

Til the next Creatively Speaking post (which, as this was a recap, will technically be the first).

How To Almost Destroy A Hat

Yes, you read the title right... I almost destroyed a hat. I was trying to make it a better shape and almost ruined it in the process.

I decided that rather than the same purple baseball cap I've been wearing for almost the last decade this summer I would try something a little different. I decided on a straw trilby but got a cheap one as I wasn't sure if it would actually suit me... and trying to work things like that out in the actual shop is difficult - especially when you have to wander around trying to find a mirror.

But anyway here is the hat...

This was actually after I had almost ruined it. Let me explain.

When I first got it the brim was floppier than you see in the photo. I tried reshaping it using steam and hot water etc. but it didn't really shape it as much as I had hoped.

Then after much fiddling I discovered where the plastic 'string' running around the brim was joined and promptly broke it (as in I broke the join apart).

I tried melting it back together and only succeeded in ruining a couple of small alligator clips I was using to hold the plastic together.

I the end I used a combination of sewing thread and PVA glue to fasten it back together, as you may be able to see in this photo...

How NOT to reshape a hat

So after that I redecorated it by changing the band. I sifted through my ribbon collection and came up with an old denim belt and some lace.

Which I then sewed together and created a band...

And then I simply put it on the hat and tacked it over the top of the old band.

Simple!

And now for a bit of modelling...

Excuse the sunglasses indoors but as we established I can't take a regular photo without my eyes ending up closed. So the options are: miserable, stupid or I have to cover my eyes with sunglasses.

What almost-disastrous-DIYs-but-it-turned-out-well-in-the-end have you had?