justBeConnected

Creative Dreams

I did have some Holiday-ish questions ready to post, but today I have been thinking about Creative Dreams. Something I am fixated on in my own life. I have been trying to figure out what my Creative Dreams are ~ I want to spell it out for myself because how can I get what I want if I don't even know what that is!

I know My Creative Dreams are multi faceted.

One part of my Creative Dream is this blog. justBeConnected makes my heart sing and soar. A vision that is now beyond my expectations. Thank YOU. Please keep participating and keep your emails coming. Your voice makes any work, which is mostly just time consuming stuff, JOY! Thank YOU!

What are Your Creative Dreams ~what is your vision?

How do you plan to make your Creative Dreams Real?

comment here or write a post and link to it in the comments

Have a Creative Day! XO, Melba

cookies, cookies, cookies!

  hi, mary ann here. 

since i was a little girl, i have always enjoyed baking cookies.  & for the past 2 decades, i have baked a ton of cookies to give away as holiday gifts.  usually after thanksgiving, i check my pantry for ingredients that i may be lacking, start gathering my supplies, & then bake, bake, bake!

well, more like, make & freeze...& then bake.   it's usually only at christmastime that i do this mass quantity baking for lucky family, friends & even my local postal peeps (they have delivered quite a few packages over the course of the year) :).  i decided long ago that the best kind of gifts to give

during the holiday season are the ones that come from the heart.  & since i love to bake cookies, i thought wouldn't this make a lovely gift?  unless you are dieting or cutting out carbs,  who would turn down  homebaked cookies at christmastime?  not many in my family or circle of friends!  plus, i've got it down to a science, hehehe...once i have all my ingredients & baking equipment (my kitchenaide mixer has made things oh-so efficient!), then it's pretty much assembly line fashion from there on out. 

i make about 6 different types of cookies (more if i am feeling adventurous or if i found a wonderful cookie recipe that i want to try).  my core favs, though  (in no particular order, because i heart them equally)  are raspberry linzer cookies, snowballs & peppakakor.  the latter are swedish spice cookies.  i fell in love with these cookies when a swedish friend of mine showed me how to make them many moons ago & i have been hooked on them ever since. my family members often look forward to getting their very own batch of these delectable delights.   

i also enjoy the decorating part of holiday cookie baking.  i get to flex my creative muscles during this part...so fun, you know?

it makes me all warm & fuzzy inside knowing that i gave a gift that was heartfelt, homemade & very much appreciated by my recipients.  i'd rather fill people's bellies than some overflowing landfill.

wishing you all a heartfelt & happy holiday season! 

The Reason for the Season

from Megan:

My husband calls me a Scrooge; he's only partially joking. It's not that I'm mean or stingy about Christmas, it's just that I'm not totally attached to all the things that other people feel Christmas is about. For example, I'm ok with not putting up a Christmas tree.

The thing is, Christmas (and holidays in general), hasn't traditionally been a fantastic experience for me. I remember in seventh grade our teacher gave us a writing assignment that I couldn't do: Write about your best Christmas memory. I tried explaining to him that I had nothing to write about and he told me I was just being dramatic. I wasn't.

Which, I've decided, is exactly why I don't love the "traditional" Christmas things. For me, a traditional Christmas is stressful. All my life I wanted to really be able to love Christmas; I was waiting for the time to come when I could just dig in and laugh and play and have as much fun as everyone on TV and in the movies did. But, when I grew up I was thrust from playing into my second family's (my husband's clan that is) way of doing things.

I went from unhappiness to feeling stressed and out of place. Boxing Day has traditionally been my favorite part of the holidays (for the last fifteen years anyway) - it's when I get to go home and relax.

Two years ago I started to really think about how I'd like the day to go. I mean, what was it that I didn't like about the holiday anyway? (Answer: stress and obligations.) What did I want Christmas to feel like? (Answer: fun and relaxing.) I started to imagine what my perfect Christmas day would include.

I want to set the Christmas tree up the night before - as a family. I don't want to be obligated to get up at any time, or to wait to a particular time either. I want the freedom to choose to open gifts right away, or to wait and savour them throughout the day. I want to get up and make a nice big breakfast together. I want to be able to relax and laugh and go at our own pace. But best of all, I want to go to the movies.

All the best movies come out over Christmas and it seems like the perfect day to pack up the family and go watch a fabulous movie. I never thought I'd be advocating the movie theatre on Christmas, but it actually suits our little family perfectly and everyone has a good time.

Then I want to come home and finish opening gifts (if there are any left), have a light dinner and lounge around and just enjoy each other's company. In short: I want a nice relaxing holiday where I can dig in and play - for once.

I imagined the perfect Christmas day for myself two years ago, but this Christmas is the first year that I really get to implement it. It's the first year that we'll really be having our very own Christmas holiday. Wakizashi may call me a scrooge but he's got it all wrong; it's not that I don't like (or value) Christmas, it's just that I prefer to value the reason for the season (my family and love) rather than the traditions that I've never been able to enjoy.

And after all, isn't that the best thing about family and holidays? That each generation gets to go out and forge their own way, building on the old and creating something new?

Connecting our Community

Two weeks ago I asked for some ideas of what to post about for the rest of November and Kara answered me!

Thanks Kara!

I am saving a few for another post, but one I thought you all would be interested in is this call for artists. You can see what others have shared at A Peace Of...

As November comes to a close this week so does our Sharing our Traditions posts. I actually only have one left to publish. The rest of the week I will be posting some creative challenges and asking a few questions (& I am always open to other suggestions)

Please welcome LaToya Rogers as our first ever resident poet! She will be posting every Saturday about poetry starting this Saturday December 1st.

On December 3rd we kick off our new format of having a different guest hostess each week. Our first hostess I am super excited to announce is the multi-talented Swirly Girl; Christine Mason Miller.

We have quite a diverse and interesting group of Creative Women Bloggers sharing their story in the next three months! December 17 - 21 is open if anyone is interested in being a guest hostess email me.

As always email me if

~you want to be added to the list of Creative Bloggers here at justBeConnected

~you want your shop to be added to the list of indie crafters at justBeBrave

~you want to be a hostess at justBeBrave

~you want me to share something on a Sunday Connecting our Community post

~you just want to say HI!

Have a Great week!  XO, Melba

Interview Day - Merveilles en papier

Hello,

I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving! Today, in my last interview in this series, I'm chatting with Laetitia Miéral, French papier mâché magician creating under the name of Merveilles en papier. I hope you'll enjoy her work as much as I do.

Laetitia, besides being enchanting, your creations also take papier mâché to a new level. Could you tell us about your creative path and how you came to work with papier mâché?
I’ve always done crafts and drawn since I was a child but my father introduced me to the world of papier mâché when I was around 14 or 15 as he often turned to that to create my brother's carnival costumes (samurai-inspired outfit, the Lumiere character in Beauty and the Beast, dragons and pirates...) and I soon realized how infinitely flexible a medium papier mâché was. Around that time I created shoes, masks, corsets, costumes, jumping jacks and big pirates with jointed limbs as well as all their accessories (barrels, swords, the sign for the Admiral Benbow’s inn in Treasure Island) and many historical characters (already!) : Louis XIV, Catherine de Medici as a witch riding her broomstick and also Richelieu as a devil. Papier mâché has allowed me to give a concrete shape to my ideas and drawings. I am self-taught, even though I spent two of my high-school years in a class focused on plastic arts (which didn’t give me a lot, to be honest). A few years later, when I was 23 or so, I started selling my first papier mâché fairies and plant creations at the craft and art market in Lyon, France, and did this every Sunday for four years.

For those of us who don't know much about papier mâché, would you mind sharing a bit about your process and why this medium appeals to you?
I use newsprint such as the free ad or newspapers you get in your mailbox. For small characters I create a wire framework, and for bigger ones I use wire netting or chicken wire. I then glue the paper, which I tear off as I go along, and roll it around the wire. I use a variety of small tools to sculpt the face details, dentistry tools, but pen tips also work just fine. I then allow the piece to dry. To get perfectly smooth surfaces, I sometimes rework a face once it is dry, allow it to dry once more, and over again until I'm fully satisfied with the result. I always create the faces, and often the hands, independently and assemble them to the body once all pieces are dry. One of my secrets is to add only a bit of water to the glue; this way the paper is much easier to sculpt and allows me to create the most fanciful shapes and details. I then paint the faces, which is my favorite stage in the process.

Your work speaks of fairy tales, legends and sumptuous bygone days. What in those worlds sparks your imagination?
Not an easy question to answer… these worlds have always been part of me. They have filled my dreams and my imagination since I was a child. I was literally immersed in fairy tales, the stories on tapes I would listen to when playing with my dolls, the fantasy movies but also the wonderful animation movies and series from the 80s known to people of my generation: Les Mondes Engloutis ("Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea" in English, an animated series about children who go on a quest to find Arkadia), Gummi Bears, Albator, The Three Musketeers as animal characters, L’Oiseau Bleu (The Blue Bird)… What I loved as a child continues to inspire me today: magic, beautiful costumes, beautiful decors and interiors, talking animals… everything which reality lacks, in fact…

Talking about inspiration, every artist knows the occasional dry spell and feels the need to replenish and refuel. How do you refill your creative well ?
My dreams are my main source of inspiration, my main idea "suppliers". Since I can’t live too long without feeling the need to escape somewhere, I travel quite regularly and it’s a wonderful way for me to replenish.

If I could grant you a creative wish right now, what would you ask for?

That would be to complete and publish a fairy tale I wrote a few years ago, a story created around what are, by far, my best ideas. It is, in any case, a world which my other creations don’t really hint at.

I’d like to conclude with a small « Proust questionnaire ». If you were one of the following, what would you be and why?
- A song. Glosoli by Sigur Ros, because it’s what I'm listening to these days and because this tune takes you to another place.
- An era (whether in history, legend or fantasy). I’ve always been fascinated by the 18th century because it was a period of ultimate exuberance, of sheer overindulgence and excess, of extremes and of overstatement in interior decoration, art, architecture and music, a time when too much was never enough. Most of my favorite historical characters lived at that time: the pirates Red Rackham, Ann Bonny and Mary Reed, the Chevalier d’Eon, Farinelli and Vivaldi, the Marquis de Sade and Heinrich Füssli, to name but a few. When I think of the 18th century, I imagine masquerades in Venice, pirates and corsairs navigating raging seas, dangerous liaisons, balls and boudoir secrets at Louis XV’s court…
- A book. My copy of Andersen’s fairy tales because I grew up with these and they are my favorite fairy tales.
- A movie. Legend by Ridley Scott, without any hesitation. Even though the music score sounds really outdated now, this movie features everything I like: elves, gnomes, magic, unicorns and evil creatures. The photography is very beautiful and full of poetry. I was 6 or 7 when I saw that movie for the first time and even though it scared me a bit then, it made a lasting impression on me, if only for its cult scene featuring the evil dancer and the princess.
- An animal (real or mythical). A unicorn, because it embodies wisdom and mystery.
- A place. A Scottish castle in ruins standing at the edge of a cliff swept by winds, such as Dunnottar Castle in Stonehaven because it is by far the most magical place I’ve had the chance to see.
- One of your creations. The fairy tale I wrote because it truly reflects my inner world and my dreams, more so than any of my other creations.

You can find out more about Laetitia and her paper marvels on her blog, her website and her online boutique.

(The original interview, conducted in French, is also available on my blog.)

Blessings,
Chantal

an attitude of gratitude

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A Thanksgiving Day

from Patti:

Here is a holiday memory for me about Thanksgiving in the city beautiful, Orlando.

Sometimes, it's sort of funny thinking about my childhood growing up in Florida. I always thought we were lucky if we had a cold Christmas, but a cool Thanksgiving—hardly ever. In most cases, we would all be in shorts with the widows wide open to allow the heat from the oven to escape.

My parents always had everyone over to our house. My dad loved cooking and there was always lots of preparation. Dad would start grocery shopping weeks in advance and mom would start working on her stuffing several days ahead. There were always vegetables to be cut and so many dishes to wash. The day before my parents would always take the GIANT turkey outside to clean it out. Watching both of them do this was always comforting. I don't know why but seeing them do this together was important for me.

Honestly I don't know how they made so much food. They would cook for an army. I don't remember doing much in the kitchen. Sometimes mom would have me help her with the gravy and I always loved watching the gravy thicken after she would put some flour in and it dissolved. Of course my sisters and I would try to sneak bacon that my dad would place on the turkey—dad would jokingly scold us. There were also words when he sauteed mushrooms and he would have to find new places to hide them before we ate them all. Under bowls or lids. Once they were behind the toaster.

My main task was to set the table. Always, always we would use the Courier and Ives china and the good silverware. Mom had lovely 1950's  linen tablecloths and they were only used on holidays or birthdays. The prettiest one has poinsettias on them.

All of this in 80 degree temps. Every year I would watch Macy's Parade and forever long to be in the cold around the holidays. Now I am in New England in the cold and love it  but I wish I could share it with my family.

Connecting our Community

I was thinking about how many Creative Bloggers love poetry, myself included. There are several community sites that focus on visual arts and creative writing (see our sidebar for a list). With the loss of Poetry Thursday there is not a place that I know of that brings poets together on a weekly basis. I would LOVE to make Saturdays here at justBeConnected a day to share poetry, but I don't feel I have the time to give the day it's due attention. Would anyone like to be our resident poet here at justBeConnected? You would own Saturdays here completely. Please email me if you are interested.

I have also been thinking about self-promotion and how at times it seems like something we shy away from because we don't want to "toot our own horn" I want to invite you to toot! This is the place! Yes we are all about creating connections, but justBe...is also about promoting each other's Creative Endeavors.

{I just added to the sidebar a post about The History of and Vision for justBe...}

If you have anything you want me to share here on a Sunday email me. We want to hear your voice. You don't need special blogging experience to share your voice or have a blog that gets alot of comments.

You ~ JUST THE WAY YOU ARE~  are valuable to our community!!!

A great way to share your voice is to Be a Hostess here or at justBeBrave.

If you have emailed me and I have not responded within a week, please try again. ~Especially if you have asked me to add your blog to the sidebar and you still don't see it there. Sometimes I make mistakes! And if you notice a broken link or incorrect link, Please let me know.

Thank you! XO, Melba

 

Interview Day - A Fanciful Twist

Hello,

Today I have the honor and pleasure of sharing with you an interview I did recently with Vanessa Valencia of A Fanciful Twist. I've been following her blog and her work for quite some time now and all I can say is that I'm always entertained, enchanted and inspired by everything this quintessential storyteller creates, be it with words, paints or paper. I hope you'll enjoy our little encounter. Blessings, Chantal

Vanessa, to set the tone, could you please tell us about your creative background and path?
My creative background started around 5.  When my piano lessons turned into a passion for all things emotionally inspiring.  I can remember creating just about as long as I can remember being alive.  I still play piano and compose.  As for painting, I started painting regularly when I was 13 years old.  When I was 18 I started my full fledged business.  I had artwork in a downtown gallery in Tucson Arizona when I was 18.  I sold several pieces.  However, I was a student at the University of Arizona at that time.  My parents felt that I should not study art.  They encouraged me to study something more business related.  I received a degree in International Retailing and Consumer Studies and a minor in Photography.  I painted regularly through college and sold many of my paintings.  From the age of 17 I was creating commissioned pieces for people.  I think, my art path has simply evolved on its own and is still unravelling.  I don’t know what is to come, all I know is that art is my everything.  There is no time that I am not thinking of little characters or creating in my mind.  I don’t know any other way of life…

How would you describe your art?
I think my art has little stories hidden in it.  Primarily because as I am creating each piece, I feel the character is telling me a bit about him or herself.  I would say my art has a bit of a curious fairytale quality at times.  Some whimsy perhaps.  My work varies, so it is quite difficult to place it under one description.  But I like to think the art pieces are a bit of fairytale and dreamscapes, brought to life through mixed media.

You surely are one of the most prolific artists I know and I quite admire your energy and commitment to your art. Do you create every day, and could you tell us what a typical day in the life of Vanessa Valencia looks like?

I love creating everyday.  A good creative day would mean, waking up, brewing coffee or tea, and checking my e-mail for orders or e-mails.  I then go into my studio, put on wonderful music, and usually start several projects at once.  Creating paper dress girls…  Drawing, painting.  I might start 5 paper dress girl mixed media pieces at a time.  Putting them outside to dry.  Paint flying all over the place… Glue bowls overflowing…  I mostly stand when I create.  So I take small breaks whenever my body tells me to.  Other than that, I would just be in a creative frenzy for hours.  Music is key though.  I must have my music.  I might start a clay sculpture while mixed media pieces dry, waiting for the next step…  I slow down the day with books, and more computer checks.  My blog and my e-mail get a lot of my attention, and I love that part very much.

Where do you find all that creative energy, those original ideas? What keeps you creating again and again?
For me, the more I create the more my mind sends me creatures & stories.  I see characters everywhere I turn.  My mother sometimes looks at me wide eyed when I ask her is she sees what I see in the wood grain on a wall or on a door (then she sees it too, and totally gets me).  I have to be honest, I wonder myself where the ideas come from and if they will stop one day?  But, I think this artistic side of me is simply something I was born with.  It has no rhyme or reason.  I don’t “Try” to please, I simply do what I love.  I am astounded each and every time someone is interested in my work.  It is all so surreal. 

All I can say is, it is crucial to keep your mind young and alive, embracing fairytales, cinema, and the work of great masters.  The list is never-ending… I keep a very youthful outlook and give myself the freedom to not fit into any social mold.  I embrace the beauty in so many things.  I love to cook and decorate.  I love to read and write and play instruments.  Some days I won’t paint or draw, and I refuel with other loves as described.  That is what keeps the creative flow going, variety and peace of mind…

If you were one of your paintings, which one would you be and why?

I think I might be “The Curious Playroom.”  A girl in a room, with stories and other worlds fluttering about…  A bit like me in my creative world…  I love the door knob and keyhole in the checkered floor.  The tree growing through a crack in the wall.  A ship floating overhead, and a doll house, oh how I adore dollhouses.  She seems a lot like me in my room, with my imagination swirling about.

You recently had a very successful two-day art show. Can you tell us a bit about it? And what new projects are simmering in your creative cauldron these days?

OOooo, I love a creative cauldron! 

The two day show was a local art show.  It is for Catalina, Arizona artists to showcase their work and let visitors into their studios.  It is a juried art show, and the group has grown into a non-profit organization.  I am lucky enough to have a little space to use as a gallery.  I am very private about my studio, cringing at the though of people walking through it. Although I have shared it on my blog.  We get many visitors both days and it is an exhausting show. But, it is one of my favourite parts of being an artist.  I love the Artists Studio Show. 

In my cauldron are brewing all sorts of thoughts right now.  More illustrating…  I am trying new mediums, which is always fun.  Also, I think perhaps more sculpture.  But always the paper dress girls, who seem to be evolving with me…  They hold a special place in my heart.

What advice would you give to any artist dreaming of living successfully from their art?

Well, all I can say is it is a long process… Or at least it has been for me.  I am 31 years old and this is the first year that I have totally supported myself from my art.  I was always too scared to quit my job and jump in.  Luckily, I have had a self-employed job for 8 years that gave me the flexibility and the confidence to be able to continually create & start offering much of my work for sale online in December of 2006.  Before that I sold in shows etc.

I would say, do not give up and try to find your niche.  If you want to make a living at it, make sure you price your work to sell.  People say, Vanessa, your work is priced way too low. But, right now, I simply want to sell it & share it.  I want to let it get into the hands of real people, who would like a lovely affordable piece of art.  I have been collecting art since I was 24 years old.  I own some remarkable pieces.  But, being a collector allows you to see a whole other side of the art world.  Prices are bound to change if there is a demand for an artists work, but how can an artist know what the demand is if the pieces are too high?  I don’t know, it is simply my own philosophy. 

Hold on to your dreams and work towards them everyday…

I invite you to further explore Vanessa's fanciful world through her blog, her website and why not her Etsy shop. You won't be disappointed.

Open House

Hello All, my name is Ellen Crimi-Trent and I am an illustrator, designer, wife and mother of two young boys. I just wanted to share a traditon we started when my oldest was about one. Every year about a week before Xmas we have an "Open House" party, where we invite family and friends to come and go as they please. It has become quite the tradition that everyone expects it now. In the last four years or so we added a visit from good ol' Saint Nick. Yes! thats right Santa comes to our house, but not in a sled in a red PT Cruiser! The kids just love the chance to really sit down with him and talk about all the things they wish for Christmas.

Santa is just one of the things that makes the kids have a good time, last year it was so warm out that we ordered a moonwalk! Yes you heard it right a moonwalk in December! Do I hear Global Warming. Anyway the kids just loved it. In the beginning we had the food catered but these days my husband and I make it all and save quite a bit of money, plus I think it tastes much better. Last year we started a new tradition with the party which was to give a charitable donation for a local homeless family. This worked out well and everyone loved the idea. This year I had a thought to not have the party since my brother is getting married the weekend before, but then I thought about how the boys would miss it, and since the kids are not invited to the wedding this would give them a chance to hang out with their cousins.
I know not all people are lucky as we are to be with their loved ones during this time and I feel for them, especially the troops! I do not know how those families cope with the separation especially the kids. I ran into a woman at my local post office who collects used ink cartridges to recycle for $10 phone cards which she then sends to our troops overseas! Wow, what an amazing person, I think I found our charity for this year! I wish for this Holiday season eveyone take time out and forget about the gifts and just enjoy each other's company!
Happy Holidays!

Ellen Crimi-Trent

To see what I do and what is up in my studio go to:
http://ellencrimitrent.typepad.com