Today

Today I have so many things I have to do like... laundry, writing my grocery list and going shopping and cooking dinner. Those don't sound like big things but when you have a 3 1/2 yr. old and a 1 1/2 yr. old those things can take a long time to get done especially when we all have a cold.

Today there are also so many things I want to do like.... paint and draw in my sketchbook, mix colors, cut and paste. It is hard to do the things you want to do when there are so many things you have to do.

So we have been spending lots of time outdoors lately. The weather has been wonderful. My son just got his first two wheel bike with training wheels and he wants to ride all the time now. It is so cute to see how excited he is and how well he is doing. I took these pics (and many more) while riding around our neighborhood. There is so much inspiration in nature everywhere you look. I am going to start a new collection of collages titled NATURE STUDIES. That was a title of a course I took at FIT. We just drew from nature. It was great.

So what have you been seeing around your neighborhood? I encourage you to get out and take a walk and bring your camera and see what you can capture for inspiration. If you live in a city.. go to a park or just walk down the street and you will find tons of inspiration.

True Blue Wreath

Done

New Blooms

I dyed some coffee filters for a new wreath.
And this is the wreath so far... is it weird? I am not sure.

Martha Stewart Inspiration

I have been wanting to make some collages for awhile now and I found this in the current MSL the other day... I think it is more for furniture but I want to try some of these techniques on paper. I really miss painting. I need a whole night to just play with paint. When I was in college I took a class that was called textures and techniques and that was all we did!! So great. Miss it. So I think I am going to do a beach theme and maybe floral/leaves. I miss the beach. I haven't been in so long. Longing for that.

Paper Rose

Trying to emulate Mother Nature isn't so easy....

Creating Cupcakes

Thanks so much to Holly from Creating Cupcakes for posting my wreath! Cute blog!

How to Live Creatively

I hope you can read this. I bought this card from a cute shop in Long Beach Island about 8 yrs ago. No name except gingras on it. It doesn't seem that it is a store anymore but they are still around as a company. www.how-to-live.com.

So all white it is

So I stayed with the all white since you know what? That is exactly how nature is. Not all white flowers are the same white. Some are warmer and some are cooler. I am happy with the way this turned out and I think it would fit nicely in a variety of spaces.

All whites aren't created equal

So this is where I am with my white wreath. I love using different types and textures of paper but all white isn't the same and I don't know if I can keep it that way. Some are cool, some are warm and I don't know yet if it bugs me too much that they aren't all the same. So I may just go ahead and paint them with beautiful color. What do you think?

Etsy Front Page

Yesterday my wreath made it to the Front Page on Etsy after MonicaJ added it to her treasury! That was super exciting. My wreath was sold!! Thanks so much Monica!!

Paper Flower Experimenting

So after seeing Eloise Corr Danch's beautiful paper flowers she did for Macy's I felt very inspired to try making some different, more sculptural flowers myself.

I saw this post on the Oh So Crafty blog a couple of weeks ago. Tricia made some awesome fabric flowers that she turned into a brooch and she was so kind to give instructions on how to do it. It is super easy! I tried to make one with paper. I am not so satisfied with it. I don't like seeing the wire so much.

So then I tried a couple of more today.
One with coffee filters and the other with white paper. I wrapped the stems in MS green floral tape (love this green).
I am going to keep playing (the fun part) and do a white wreath, also a white/blue wreath as well. Seeing that color combo alot and it is a classic color story.

Let me know what you think. Also, did you get to here Amy from Pikaland give her talk on creativity in Etsy's virtual lab the other night? It was awesome!! She is going to post a round up of the talk on her blog shortly in case you didn't get to stop in.

Treasury

Thanks so much Monica from the Drawing room for including my wreath in your treasury!!
Here is the link Treasury

Great Book

Back in school I picked this book up from our bookstore. It has many been there, done that techniques but also many that are new or at least they were to me when I bought it. Lots of recipes for paper, fabric and metal.

Inspiring

Eloise Corr Danch is the designer of the paper flowers!! Aren't they gorgeous? Her work is so beautiful and inspiring. I first read about her on the decor8 blog and then checked out her site http://eloisecorrdanch.com/.
From her site:

Eloise Corr Danch is a versatile freelance artist who lives and works in New York City. She is a proud and newly minted member of the Society of Illustrators, but Eloise's skill sets have grown, after an early focus on painting and illustration, to include paper sculpture as well as product, prop, set and graphic design. Her intricate paper sculptures are currently featured in 23 windows at Macy’s New York flagship at Herald Square for the retailer’s 2009 Flower Show. The windows feature more than 2,500 handmade paper flowers comprising long, swirling garlands and 20 ornate headdresses.

Name change

The name of the blog was changed to Create-Share-Inspire. I did know that create and make are the same thing however blogger was throwing names out in different combos and I picked it and wanted to change it. So I hope that if you were reading along you can find me again.

New Wreath

Here is the link to the REAL SIMPLE paper artist

I just did a search on this guy...
Check it out Matthew Sporzynski.

Real Simple Inspiration

I really love the paper sculptures that someone does each and every month for the REAL SIMPLE features. There is no mention of who does them but the are great. I love this one from the May issue of course since it is a flower. Inspiring.

Lizzie Fortunato

I saw this in May's issue of REAL SIMPLE and I love it. About six months ago I tried to make some fabric jewelry, braided and knotted but I didn't get there with it and then I saw this. Check out the site. Alot of the pieces are very out there but so interesting! Great inspiration for collages.
Here is the link: Lizzie Fortunato

Collage Rocks

Rocks I collaged with scraps. I just cut and pasted and sealed them in with Mod Podge. This is quick, easy, fun and cheap. Keep on your worktable, your windowsill, anywhere really.

Another wreath

Color Stories: Yellow, Blue, White, Orange

Pretty and Fresh Palette

Parcel Post Blog

Audrey from Urbanica Paper Boutique mentioned my wreath in her post today... Thanks Audrey.

Wreath available

So the wreath below is available. The cool opportunity fell through. :(

Wreath made

I hope the person that wanted this buys it...

Working

So I was contacted by someone to do a wreath for them that was less pastel then the one featured on Creature Comforts and decor8. I had so much fun painting last night. I really do miss it. So these are brighter and pretty. If the person doesn't go forward with the purchase it will go into the shop. What do you think of the colors?

Rocks

So I don't think anyone is reading this but I still am posting... I am going to be doing some rock decorating. Letters, words, objects. I love using up my scraps. I don't like to waste anything. I did some painting for flowers last night and I used some scraps today.

Pink/Green Wreath in Progress

It is a grey rainy day here. I am working on a pink/green wreath a little today. I have so many ideas. I just hope I can get to them all.

Wreath listed

Wreath coming to the shop today

Sneak peek of a new wreath coming to the shop today!