Belated Birthday Gifts and a Work of Art

Before I get into anything else, I must first make sure to acknowledge my friend Taiya, whose birthday was June 24.  It's not really that I haven't acknowledged her birthday, it's just that I am terribly late in making her birthday gift.  Seeing as how she's probably my biggest and bestest fan (aside from my hubby) and my best marketing tool (read: brag book) I have to make sure that her presents are always special.  So after more than a month of brainstorming, You Tube-ing, and driving my husband crazy with indecision, I finally came up with the perfect idea for her present.  Only I haven't had the time to make it yet.  The foundation has been laid (hint-there are three envelopes glued together), but so far schoolwork and studying has kept me out of the studio.  So I've decided on a new tactic.  I will leave clues as I get a step completed.  This way by the time it is finally complete and it arrives in the mail she can't help but be excited to see it.  Sounds like a good plan to me.  :-)

The other topic I wanted to cover during this blog update has also been pushed aside due to studying.  Has anyone else been watching Bravo TV's Work of Art?  Think Project Runway meets the art world.  I think it is Bravo's attempt to reclaim some its glory since losing Project Runway this past year.  The show's not half bad, though I never would have known about it if I hadn't been watching something else on Bravo.  It didn't help either that the series premier came on at 11pm.  The show as settled into it's regular schedule of Wednesday nights at 10:00 est.  As I said earlier, it's not half bad, but it certainly leaves some things to be desired.

If we're considering Work of Art to be a Project Runway replacement, I think a simple comparison between the two is the best place to start.  And when you think of Project Runway the first person you think of when you think of is Heidi Klum.  Work of Art's answer to Heidi is China Chow and Heidi Klum she is not.  I don't blame China, it's more the fault of the writers.  China has the attitude, but she lacks the catch phrases that Heidi is known for.  As a result it leaves her looking meek.  No "You're out."  Instead it's "You're work didn't work for us."  What's that supposed to be?  And while we're on the subject of tag lines, they didn't do much better for Simon de Pury, the Tim Gunn of Work of Art.  There is no "Make it work."  There is no anything.  He speaks and the artists don't even realize he's leaving the room.

There is a good side to Work of Art.  You get to see works of art in progress.  With Project Runway everyone is sewing.  Great.  It's the finished product you're looking to see.  With Work of Art you actually get to see it being made.  You get to see the thought process and the design process of the different artists, all of whom work in different ways.  My only complaint about that is that there is not nearly enough time to explore them all and really get an in depth look at what they're doing.  I'm sure as the number of artists is whittled down we'll get to see more.  For now what we'll have to do with what we get.

Despite its faults, I do enjoy Work of Art and would recommend it to others.  It's a bright, creative spot on the summer line-up.  And we can always enjoy some creative television.

~Jennifer Gayle

Going Flying

It's kind of fun to see life at work. A little over a year ago a friend of mine sent me a book that she thought I would like. It was called Taking Flight: Inspiration + Techniques to Give Your Creative Spirit Wings, by Kelly Rae Roberts. It's part companion, part guide, and part journal. It's the kind of book that makes you want to run to the craft room and lock yourself in until you're covered in paint and have little scraps of paper stuck to various parts of your clothes. I was all raring to go when I was hit with my ten-month forced hiatus from creative life. The book, along with many other things, got packed away and moved.

Fast forward to last week. The same friend sent me a link to a website. She had seen an artist's work in Hallmark and fallen in love. She wanted to share the artist's site with me because she knew I would love her work too. As I started surfing through the site I realized that there was something familiar about the artwork. Low and behold, the artist who had caught her eye was also the author of the book that she had sent me last year--Kelly Rae Roberts. I would say it's a small world, but I don't believe in coincidence.

I am at a point in my creative career where I could use some guidance. I've mostly decided what I want to do, and where I want to do it (read: new website coming in the near future). But I'm not too sure on the how. I can build a website, I can write a blog, but how do I share it with an audience. Enter Kelly Rae. As I was browsing her site I noticed a page for her e-course, "an inspiring and informative e-course where I share everything I know about how to start, grow, or expand your creative business." It was everything that I have been looking for. Depressed about not being able to afford to go to CraftyCon this fall, I was elated to find a source for all the information I've been looking for and it was only $99. Again, Kelly Rae is going to be a companion and a guide to those of us who want to share our creative spirit with the world (or at least the parts of the world who are interested in wearing things like Lego earrings).

I am totally elated, and grateful, that I have this opportunity. I look forward to learning all that I can, and hopefully someday I will be able to share my expertise with a whole new generation of crafters.

-Jen

Inspirations from IKEA

This is us at 4:00 in the morning, February 18.  What, you may ask would possess us to get up in the middle of the night, get in the car and drive over two hours to Charlotte?  Well...

It was the grand opening of the new IKEA in Charlotte.  There was no way I was going to pass up an opportunity like this.  It's certainly not everyday that you get to witness the grand opening of a store like IKEA.

My original plan was to chronicle the whole morning--waiting in line, the band, the hundreds of other people anxiously awaiting the opening of the doors--but I was thwarted by mother nature.  Before we left at 4 am I checked the weather to decide which coat I should bring.  Unfortunately I failed to notice the little rain symbol next to the 50 degrees.  It started raining in Burlington.  It got worse when we got to Charlotte.  Our umbrellas were in Durham.

Luckily they were handing out ponchos to us fools who were standing in line.  The lucky (crazy?) few who had been there since Monday had a cover over their heads, while the rest of us who decided we didn't need a free chair bad enough to camp out for three days were left out in the rain.  We were fortunate enough that a very nice couple got in line behind us, equipped with a giant golf umbrella.  We got to know them quite well during the two hours we huddled together underneath it.  

The store was originally supposed to open at 9:00.  They started the opening ceremonies at 8:00.  First the appropriate anthems were played as first the American, then the Swedish, then the North Carolina flags were raised.  There was a men's choir from Sweden there to sing the Swedish national anthem.  There were speeches from the store manager, the local district politician, and even Charlotte mayor Pat McCrory (whom I'm told never misses an opportunity like this).  Finally at 8:30 they asked us if we'd like to go in a little early.  The crowd responded more loudly than when the television crews asked if they were excited.  And I felt the happiest I'd been in several hours--we were going in.

This was the scene when we entered the store.  All of the employees were lined up, cheering and clapping us as we came in the doors and headed up the escalator.  It was so exciting.  It was like iPhone day, only I'd been the idiot waiting in line, not the one inside the store clapping.

We spent the rest of the morning going through the enormous showroom.  We made time, of course, for some Swedish meatballs and ligonberry juice.  If you ever get to go, you must try the meatballs.  If you're smart and pack a cooler you can even bring some frozen meatballs home to fix for yourself.  Though, keep in mind, that the cooler could take up precious cargo space in the car.  You can only buy the furniture that you can take back home with you.

So what, may say, does any of this have to do with craftiness and inspiration?  Well, IKEA is not just about furniture and meatballs, it's about accessories and organizing too.  

This is what I brought home from IKEA.  I knew when I went that I wanted to get some of these jars.  We bought some a couple years ago for our kitchen, and they are wonderful.  They have a really tight seal on them so they keep things fresh.  Well, a couple months ago when I was working on organizing my craft room I stole a couple out of the kitchen, because they look really nice too.  I've got bottle caps, buttons, scrap ribbon stored in them, and they look nice enough to leave out on shelves.  I also came across this really cute tin set.  I couldn't resist the polka dots, and it was only $2 for the three tins.  The big white board in the back is a metal board for magnets.  I've been displaying my magnets on the back of a Christmas serving plate, so I was very excited to find this, especially with a craft show coming up in April (more on that later).  The mirror I found for $4.  It's unfinished wood, which I plan to decoupage.  

The most surprising inspiration of all is in that big blue bag.  We have a couple from our previous trips to IKEA.  You can purchase one of those for $2, and it's big enough to fit everything you buy in, or you can pay $.50 per plastic shopping bag.  It's the Swedish way of encouraging you to help the environment.  They're really nice and heavy, but for me they're too big to be of any real use in day-to-day life.  I certainly wouldn't fill them with groceries.  I would never be able to carry it in from the car.  Well, while we were in line for our meatballs I spotted something interesting.  A woman had on her shoulder one of the IKEA blue bags, only it was the size of her purse (granted one of those huge suitcase-sized purses, but still).  She had taken the bag, cut it, and re-sewn it to the size that she wanted.  How ingenious is that?  I've looked at those bags a dozen times and never thought to do that.  Since it was the grand opening they gave everyone new blue bags for free, so I have a crisp new one to play with.  And who knows, maybe it will start a new fashion trend.

My final find, and perhaps my favorite, is this nine drawer organizer.  Yes, I realize it looks like a box of wood right now, but that's the fun of IKEA.  I get to put it together myself.  And since I get to do that I get to paint it and decorate it any way I want.  I'm really looking forward to playing with it.

So, I guess if I were to sum up this blog in a couple of sentences (for those of you who have scrolled down) it is this: 1)Do something crazy like get up in the middle of the night and stand in the rain for hours just for a store opening at least once in your life.  2)Keep your eyes open.  There is inspiration everywhere and some things aren't what they seemed when you first looked at them.