Hoppy Easter!

Normally I'm pretty clueless when it comes to Craftster's monthly challenges, but this month I actually have an idea - inspired by Gail of "that artist woman" (which probably gives it away, but whatever). Now to actually find the time (and eggs) to do it with!

FAIL

Alas, if only there was a real-world 'undo' button. My lovely bottle of hope that I had thought to send to the Texas BOH Challenge fell victim to my perfecting attempts today. If only the point at which every further modification will only make things worse was evident in foresight, instead of hindsight . . .

insecurity

I wonder how common insecurity is among crafters? Is my opinion of my own work pessimistic, or realistic?

You see, now that I'm nearly finished with the boh I am/was planning to send in for the North Texas challenge, I'm getting cold feet. (cold postage stamps?) I think maybe it's because somehow I have invested so much of myself in this project that I'm afraid to part with it to a less than loving home. Also, I think, what am I doing entering a challenge of all things? What if the organizers get is and are like 'yuck! what on earth are we supposed to do with this?'

Self-doubt is one of those ridiculous things that is dangerous to have either too much or too little.

creative taskmaster

I wish I knew of a good 'to-do' online widget. Right now I use listography, but it's far from ideal for that.

BOHs - soak bottles, sketch out ideas
Pansies - add more pastels before sealing
Faces box - second sepia wash
Teapot box - major repairs with ivory
Tea cozy - call Yarns Etc to see if they have the yarn I need
Knitting markers - test rings idea
Mesa beads - finish reaming

I also need to clean up both my craft area - it's starting to get a little cluttery - and the room around it (which is long past cluttery). Also I need to revamp my creativity folder and expand the area for ideas. And, unfortunately, it's time for Gikow's book to go to the library. That's a book I'd like to own.

Also the trash needs to go out. But that's neither here nor, unfortunately, there.

Projects Underway

These are only the projects currently not in hibernation; otherwise the list would itself go unfinished.

Mom's tea cozy - currently 2/3 done, need to get more yarn
Swallow pendant - need to paint the edges, then seal and string
Pansy magnets - not really sure what to do on these next, which is why they're not finished. they need something in their centers, I'm just not sure what
Teapot box - for some reason I'm really dragging my feet on the bottom half of the box (though not literally - that would be strange)

Also I need to decide what to do with my undersea pendant (whether to trash or try to salvage it) and my sea of faces box (it can't live on my mantel forever, but I don't think I could sell it).

Huh. That's not as bad as I thought it was. I feel less overwhelmed now. With craft projects, anyway.

edited to add: also creative simmerings on the contests ennumerated below; most notably sketching out some boh ideas

edited to add II: also the knitting markers. maybe it is as bad as I thought it was.

hopefulness

I've been thinking about the bottles of hope challenge, and collected these quotes:

The phoenix hope, can wing her way through the desert skies, and still defying fortune's spite; revive from ashes and rise. -Miguel De Cervantes

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope. -Martin Luther King Jr.

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. - Hebrews 6:19a

Hope is the golden thread that should be woven into every experience of life. -anon

No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn. -Hal Borland

Such is hope, heaven's own gift to struggling mortals, pervading, like some subtle essence from the skies, all things both good and bad. -Charles Dickens

Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul -- and sings the tunes without the words -- and never stops at all. -Emily Dickinson

Fear cannot be without hope nor hope without fear. -Spinoza

Brainstorming: bottle with wings, phoenix (flaming or chick from ashes), HOPE in illuminated manuscript style, lit flame/aladdin's lamp, four seasons mosaic, yin/yang

More Contests

Contests are fun because they essentially give 'prompts' for creativity. The one I mentioned yesterday, and Two more contests to mention today.

Fire Mountain Gems' annual contest is rolling around again, with the deadline on April 15th this year. The problem with them is you have to use their components, so I'd have to design something around their sale page, rather than just what I have on hand. Possible, if I can find something inspirational on their page, but the deadline is coming up awfully soon.

The other, slightly more doable is the Bead Star 2009 contest - plastics is the polymer clay category, though several others look doable too. The deadline for this one is May 1st.

Time to get started!

bottles of hope

The North Texas Polymer Clay Guild is sponsoring a bottles of hope contest. The deadline is April 10th. I'd really like to enter:
- for the exposure (not that that matters until I can restock my etsy shop)
- in memory of D-daddy, whose bottles I was given by Deedie
- because it's a nice thing to do for people

So far my brainstormings haven't been very productive:
- Hope: clay backed butterfly topper, pandora's box, sun and clouds
- Shape: tree, mushroom, castle tower, gnome

More than the contest, I'd really like to come up with something that would inspire the eventual recipient. Intriguingly, this points to another craft/faith nexus of the type I've been pondering recently. I think my head is a rock tumbler, turning nuggets of ideas over and round until they come out polished and ready for presentation. It's just a very sloooow process, most of the time, and craft/faith nexus needs to go back in for a while.