I think I just might be....

So I've been in quite of a creative slump as of late.  Maybe it's just winter.  The short cold days, never seeing any sunlight.  Just wanting to snuggle up under a warm blanket and hibernate.  It just makes everyone a little bit sad.   

Maybe it was the stress of buying a house and then moving (in winter) that really was getting to me.  I mean it took really everything out of me.  It's hard buying a house so far away from where you live.  It just means long nights and little sleep.  But we did it and now I have a studio (well I will as soon as I get off my butt and start putting it together).

Maybe my creative slump was caused by a bad show.  All of you out there that do art shows know the feeling.  You do a show that you think will be fun and you'll make some monies, and then it just sucks.  Then you start questioning your work and telling your boyfriend that you're done making things and doing shows because everyone hates your stuff.  You get a little depressed and kinda just want to crawl in a hole.

Well I had one of those bad shows last month.  It was one held at my work for employees and family members of employees.  They have it every year and it's little, but free.  You just have to donate a little of your earnings to the animal fund.  Okay sounds good, guess I'll give it a try.  I probably won't sell much because my stuff is expensive, but even a few things would be okay.  But then I found out that money was taken at the door and then distributed later on.  Well, I was a little iffy about this.  I mean who wouldn't be, you hand over your hard work and don't physically get any money in return.  But they said they didn't have an problems in the past so I went ahead with the show.  Long story shot, I only sold a few things, but I made about $100, which isn't really great, but the show was only 3 or 4 hours long and it was free.  So I was happy with the extra hundred dollars I would have for Christmas.  Well when I went to go collect my money, they handed my $26.  When I protested that amount and showed them my receipt book, I was told that they didn't have any extra money and didn't want to take it out of the donation pot.  So in the end (after much debate and argument) I ended up just taking the damn $26.  That's $74 short of what I should have made, that's $74 that could have been used for home improvement crap, that's someone that got a free cuff for Christmas.  So, needless to say, I was unbelievable saddened by this.  This is why I didn't want to hand over the goods without getting some money in return, and this is why that was the first and last time I'll do that little show.

So I think that had a great impact on my creativity.  Why create crap, if I'm just going to be ripped off?  It just made me very sad.

Thankfully, one of my coworkers commissioned a piece for his wife.  It was a Christmas gift.  I made a cuff like my horse cuff, but with a cow instead (she has a pet cow, yes you heard that right, a pet cow.  And no they are not cattle farmers, just one pet cow).  So imagine that cuff with a happy jumping cow in it.  It turned out a lot cuter then I thought it would.  I didn't get any pictures of it before I gave it to him, but I'll get some soon.  She really liked it and wears it all the time, so that made me happy.  It sort of helped me out of that slump.  It showed me that people liked my stuff and people were happy to wear it.  So I started to feel that spark of creativity come back.  And it started to make me forget that we don't have any furniture in the living room yet. 

Crappy Iphone Pic, but you get the idea!

That got me started, I've been on a roll this last week.  I started slow with some small projects that utilized the small amounts of beads that were left over from other projects.  I just sat down with some thread and a bunch of small piles of beads in front of me and started beading.  And before I knew it, I had three cute, colorful bracelets made.  Each one unique, never to be replicated.  It showed me how to have fun with the beads again.  It's what I needed.  Take my mind off of everything around me and just make something pretty.  Sometimes I think we all forget that, that it should be fun.   

Fish Scale Cuff! Ignore the bead mat mess!!!

So those three simple bracelets got me going.  I then started a sparkly cuff, a big one.  That one is also just free form, no pattern just some sparkly hex cut beads and what every pops into my head.  I'm loving it.  I looks a lot like a cuff I made last summer, and that one sold and the first show I brought it too, so maybe I'll have the same luck with this one.  J says it reminds him of fish scales, but in a pretty way.  I guess I'll take that.  I really love how sparkly it is and how much it catches the light.  Cant' wait to finish this little guy up.  Maybe I'll use my sparkly buttons for clasps on this one, we'll just have to see what I'm in the mood for.

Purple embroidered cuff! Again, ignore the mess!

Then I received a bead order and that sparked another cuff idea.  So I got straight to work on that.  Last year I bought a grab bag of cat's eye cabs, no know what I would do with them.  Well the white square cab went great with the purple and blue beads.  And I'm trying out a new fabric to bead on.  I'm trying some good old moleskin type fabric.  We have a bunch of it laying around from a project J did, and I thought why not.  I'm in love with it so far.  I love the colors and I love the look.  Simple, but still so pretty.  I can't wait to get it on some leather and finish it.  I want to see it on.  Oh, I can't wait.               

So hopefully I'm out of this slump I've been in.  I seem to be.  I seem to be back in the swing of things, with more ideas then I have hands to make.  My sketch pad is filling up fast.  I'm glad to be back creating!!!