Touring Through Blogland

Victoria from the blog Slightly Shabby has invited me to participate in Touring Through Blogland.  It's been a while since I've done this,  so please bear with me and I hope you won't judge me too harshly for how this post turns out.  LOL

First off, I'll show a photo I took recently to give everyone something to look at and break the ice.  Everyone loves pictures and it will lighten up my answers to the questions posed.

View from Pier Park, Panama City Florida

1.) What am I working on now?

     I just recently took a hanging driftwood mobile that I had ordered that had been damaged in the
     shipment to me apart and re-purposed it by re-stringing it into one long row instead of a mobile.
     Because it was damaged, the company I purchased it from told me to keep it.
     I couldn't bear the thought of tossing it so I decided I would hang it on a hanger until I could figure
     out what to do with it.  Well, I was visiting a blog one day a couple weeks later and I saw where
     someone had taken predrilled driftwood pieces, painted them, and strung them in a long row.  (I
     wish I could remember the name of the blog to give proper credit, but the name escapes me right
     now).  I painted each piece and wiped off the excess to give it a whitewash look and strung it
     on a long piece of hemp twine, re-used the ring it was hanging on and added a pre-drilled
     starfish to the end of it.  Voila!  Here is how it turned out:

Please excuse the lighting, the room this is hanging in doesn't get any sunlight.

Here is a close-up of the beginning of it:

Much better view.

It was any easy re-purpose and I love how it turned out.  I will be making another one for a friend of mine.  Living in Florida, this piece of artwork fits in nicely with my beach themed home.

2.)  How Does your work differ from others in this genre?

     Well, I'm not sure how to answer that question???  I often try to do new projects on a smaller scale

     than others in the DYI or craft field.  I'm no expert but love a challenge and if I can use something 

     I already have to make it all the better.  It's amazing and inspiring what a bit of paint and ideas 

     you find through blogging can lead you to.  I also love taking photos and trying my hand at 

     drawing although, I'm not very good at it, I've learned not to be so critical of what I try my hand

     at.

Here is a photo of two drawing I recently did...not perfect by any means but it looks as good as some

of the prints I see available for sale on other websites.  Again, not perfect but my take and vision of

the objects I draw.

Am I a self-proclaimed artist?  Not on your life but still it was worth the effort, at least to me.

3.)  Why do you write/create what you do?

     I started out blogging, gosh, 7 or 8 years ago.  When I first started blogging I thought it would be

     fun to write and share different aspects of my life, a diary of sorts.  I didn't have a "genre" per say,  

     but would write stories about my childhood and favorite interests. As I became a bit more sure of 

     myself, (YAY, finally) I started having posts that included homes and rooms that I found inspiring.

     Adding to that, items that I was making and selling in my Etsy Shop. (which I've since closed)

     I found after a while, I started to become "burned out" i.e. trying to visit and comment on 

     everybody's posts ('cause everybody loves comments just as much as I liked receiving them)

     along with trying to keep up with my shop and trying to write interesting and informative

     posts was too much and the enjoyment of having a blog soon became work instead of the FUN

     I started out with.  So, I backed away from it and now only post when I want to or have

     something to add of value.  I still visit and comment, but just not as much as before and only

     with others who I've built up a friendship with.  Whenever something becomes WORK instead of

     fun and you begin to "go through the motions" without enjoying what you are doing, it's

     time to stop, take a deep breathe and ask yourself is this what I really wanted out of this?

4.)  How does your writing/creating process work?

     I generally have a "light bulb" ( or as others might say "I fly by the seat of my pants") moment that 

     leads me to write or try something new.  I used to think that I "couldn't do something" but then I

     thought if all the world felt that way, nothing would be created or written.  Sometimes,

     you just have to put yourself out there and give it a whirl anyway, you'll never know what you can

     achieve until you do.  I find much of my inspiration these days comes from nature.  I've been

     taking photos of the beach and printing them to sell in a craft show that a friend of mine has 

     paid to have a space in.  By far though, my biggest pleasure is watching the birds

     eat from the feeder.  If you have ever watched birds feed, they have a pecking order of sorts. The

     larger birds i.e. blue jays, woodpecker, and doves tend to dominate the feeder and bully the 

     smaller birds until they are finished.  Just watching them is inspiring to me.  I can view them from

     outside the window where my computer is so there is always a new bird that pays the feeder a

     visit.  

I would like to thank Victoria for the invitation to write for Touring Through Blogland and all of you who stop by for the opportunity to share with you my thoughts and ideas for being creative.  Here are some shots I recently took that will be shown at the craft fair.  I would have never guessed that I would love photograpy as much as I do and all it took was taking that first couple of shots and liking

how they turned out.  Which goes to show you only have to give it a "shot".  You never know what might come out of it!