by Pam Tremble | Jan 6, 2010 | Art & Creativity
About a year ago I found a really great photography club at Meetup – it’s a social calendar type website where you can find people in your town who share the same interests you do and get together in person. We meet once a month and always have an “assignment.” We all take pictures for the assignment then share it at our monthly meet-up. It’s great to see how different people interpret the same thing. This month’s assignment was “100 feet from your door.”
If anyone hadn’t noticed, it’s winter outside! And I hate winter! So going out into the cold to compose shots and play with my camera was not something I looked forward to. But I got a few shots of the Christmas lights I have in my yard. Thought I’d share them with you here.
Even though they are dark, I love that the texture in the bark of the tree is so interesting.
by Pam Tremble | Jan 3, 2010 | Art & Creativity
I’ve been glued to my computer for the past several days searching out inspirational websites, blogs and art galleries in my quest to be more creative this year. Thankfully I have a little Netbook mini laptop so when I’m out and about away from my creating-space, I can still be inspired by art. I’m in awe of what I’m finding and my list of “want to try” stuff is growing by leaps and bounds!
Budding flower – from photowalk at Bay City State Park, Michigan
Today’s Inspiration – Art Journaling
I’ve always wanted to start an art journal – and I have started a couple time, half-heartedly. But it seems that I have this FEAR of letting go and just creating with abandon. I guess you could say I like things to be planned out and lined up. I need to “see” the finished project in my head before I start, so when the idea of an art journal comes into play I realize that much of the control is taken away and I just have to let it happen as it happens. But I’ve found some inspiration to help me get started:
Samantha Kira — The Journal Girl — She has a beautiful blog about her art journals (and various other creations) and she’s recently been published in the Art Journaling magazine. I discovered her blog through her videos on YouTube. Here’s one of her demonstrations on how to create layers of color on an art journal page. Check out the rest of her videos too – she’s adorable and fun and silly and oh-so inspiring.
Millande — Millande — I’ve just barely scratched the surface with all Millande has to offer. So far I’ve already fallen in love with this lady from the United Kingdom and just can’t get enough of her drawing, painting and art journaling. I also found her originally on YouTube – you have to watch her series on ZenDoodling 1 2 3 4 – simply amazing and inspiring! She’s also beginning an art journal project for 2010 and is showing videos of her progress. She’s also got an art community, but I haven’t explored that yet.
Diana Trout – Journal Spilling – I found her book at Barnes & Noble a couple weeks ago while I was still contemplating this whole Create challenge. I looked through it while I was enjoying my Starbucks, but didn’t buy it then. Yesterday I went back and bought it. OMG! This book is packed with serious inspiration. I love that she walks you through, step by step, on all the materials, supples and techniques to get started with art journaling. She issues challenges and then tells you how to accomplish them. So glad I bought this book. She also has a website that is touted as “bare bones at the moment” – can’t wait to see what else will be added.
YouTube – I did a search for “art journaling” on YouTube and was amazed at what I discovered. Literally thousands of videos from artists all over the world. Then once you find an artist that intrigues you, check out all their other videos to see what else they show. And most of these artists have blogs or websites… so then you run over to their site and see what else they are creating. It’s addicting and amazing and inspiring. Plus, the great thing about watching someone else create pages in their art journal is that it seems less intimidating in a way. You see the steps they take and understand how it works and you want to get your paints out and play, play, play!
I’m going to go play now. I’ll share with you what I create later.
~Pam
by Pam Tremble | Jan 1, 2010 | Art & Creativity
Today is New Year’s Eve and I’m hanging out with Grandma tonight. Tomorrow is our final family Christmas celebration and Grandma wanted to make the little favors for the dinner table. So together we made some Santa Trains made out of candy.
Use double-sided tape to hold all the parts together. Start out with a pack of gun as the base. Add two mini candy bars taped together to form the engine at the front and a caramel on the back as the base of the smoke stack. A Hershey’s Kiss makes the smoke stack. Add pepperment candies and mints as wheels. And a chocolate santa sits in the engineer’s seat front and center.
Grandma had fun making the Santa Trains. She was laughing at me for taking pictures of her and the candy. We didn’t sneak too many “tastes” — gotta make sure the chocolate is good quality, ya know.
I love my Grandma’s hands. So much experience and wisdom. She’s usually got her nails painted all pretty, looks like a manicure is in order for later.
It didn’t take us too long to finish the whole bunch of them. Just needed 25 so each family member could have one of their own – young and old alike.
by Pam Tremble | Dec 30, 2009 | Coffee Talk
Before I jump in and get started, I want to introduce myself. Warning – this is going to be a VERY long post, so grab a cup of hot cocoa and enjoy the ride (or just skip my ramblings and go straight to the photos!).
Some of you already know me from my other blogging adventures or message boards or somewhere out in cyberspace or real life. But do you know how crafty I am? LOL!
My name is Pam and in 2010 I’m going to be 40 years old! Holy cow – when did that happen? I live in mid-Michigan with a cat that I don’t like very much in a house that perpetually needs to be cleaned up. Since childhood I’ve been an artsy fartsy type of gal. In fact, as a child my parents started this tradition at Christmas time that we’d all MAKE each other a gift that we’d open on Christmas Eve. Imagine the creations a 7 year old kid could come up with for her family members. In my 20’s I worked with my mom doing craft shows and bazaars — in fact, if I counted up all the years I’ve done craft shows it’d be about 15 or so. Then for the past 5 years I’ve stopped making my own crafts to sell and just helped my parents with their craft show booths – they are so successful it takes 4 people to run their space. So crafting and creating is part of who I am, it’s in my blood and essential to my character.
First, a bit about why I’m starting the {Create} blog.
Like everyone else, my life is very busy. I work full time as an executive assistant (aka: kindergarten teacher some days) and I have a horrendous commute of about 15 hours a week. I’m also going back to school to get my degree in graphic design and I’m taking a full load of classes. And I lead a local support group for other people who are on a path to weight loss too. So yeah… busy, busy, busy.
The problem lies in the fact that I’m right-brained. Work, commuting, school – it’s a lot of left-brain stuff and if I let those things rule my life for too long I start to go a little bit insane. I need a creative outlet in my life in order to keep a healthy balance for my spirit. But who has the time for a silly little thing like arts and crafts? Right – and that brings me to my point. I want to TAKE the time for creative pursuits and make it a part of my daily life. And by starting this blog, it’ll help me stay focused on this goal that is so important to me.
Silly Arts and Crafts?
Ok, so what will you see here? Is it really about “silly arts and crafts?” Gee, I hope not. LOL! Well, it’ll be about art and craft and creating and inspiration and projects and expression…. but hopefully it won’t be too silly. Want to know what things I can do and hope to share here with you?
PHOTOGRAPHY
About 3 years ago I bought a digital SLR (Nikon D40) and I’ve been hooked every since! Last year I joined a photography club that meets once a month and each month we have photography assignments to help develop our techniques. In the past year my photography has improved SO much and my passion has continued to grow. You can view my latest shots on my Flickr account anytime (add me as a friend and you’ll be alerted when I upload new stuff!). Here’s a photo I took at the Dow Gardens (Midland, Michigan) Butterfly Exhibit this past spring.
KNITTING
One of my “New Year’s Goals” for 2008 was to learn how to knit. And I did it! Thanks to YouTube and some online knitting tutorial sites I was able to master the knit and purl. Unfortunately I haven’t progressed much beyond the novice stage, but I want to learn more! I immediately got hooked on knitting tote bags and purses using 100% wool and then felting them in the washing machine. Did I say hooked? I meant … full-out addiction! Seriously, how much yarn can one person own and actually expect to use? Ha! In fact, I’ve got about 6 totes knitted that need to be felted — so with this creativity challenge, those bags go on the list of things to finish. I don’t have a good picture of my knitting right now, but I’ll add one later.
PAPERCRAFTING
I have been a scrapbooker for many years – maybe 15 years or so – and I even spent about 3 years of my life as a business owner making scrapbooks for other people. But that business venture quickly burned me out and I had to give up the business and my love of scrapbooking. I still have the supplies and I have an amazing scrapbook studio in the spare bedroom of my house (see below), but I rarely scrapbook anymore. BUT, there’s a whole other world besides just scrapbooking, right? Papercrafting can include any number of things like making mini photo albums and bookbinding; card making; creating 3D shadowbox frames; altering mundane items into works of art and any number of creative ventures. I have a gallery of my projects on Scrapjazz if you want to take a peek.
These pictures are:
- An altered recipe tin I made for my Grandmother to hold her Christmas baking recipes.
- An altered notebook that became an address book
- A couple pictures of my scrapbook studio – these were taken right after I remodeled the room and before it got too messy. It definitely do not look this neat and organized right now!
- A couple scrapbook page layouts. One of my nephew and brother playing XBox and the other of my Beautiful Grandma.
DRAWING
I’ve always wanted to be an outstanding artist, but the drawings in my brain don’t match the drawings that land on the paper when I attempt to create them. This past semester at college I had to take a drawing class and learned some basic techniques that helped me get moving in the right direction. I’ve also recently acquired my first Moleskine sketchbook and I’m determined to fill it – with much inspiration coming from online Moleskine communities and art galleries as well as how-to tutorials on new techniques (Mandalas and Zentangles are two recent discoveries). Below are a few cartoon drawings from my class last semester.
DIGITAL STUFF & GRAPHIC DESIGN
This one is old and new for me. As part of my job (and past jobs) I’ve often found myself as the resident graphic designer. For the past 12-15 years I’ve used Microsoft Publisher to make posters, postcards, newsletters, advertisements, annual reports and any other thing that needed to be made. And now I’m in the process of learning the Adobe Creative Suite programs – Photoshop, Illustrator, etc. I love the process of creating something out of nothing with a few clicks of the mouse. And now that I’m going back to college to get a real degree in graphic design, I know my skill level will increase over the next several months. And aren’t you lucky that you get to see some of that progress? Hopefully at this time next year I’ll either be done with my degree, or very nearly done – so this coming year is going to be a whirlwind of learning and creating. I’m excited about it.
I’ve also dabbled in Digital Scrapbooking and have collected a TON (maybe 2 or 3 tons?) of digital scrapbook elements from various online designers. As I learn more about how to use Photoshop, I’m sure this love of digital scrapbooking will also grow. In the meantime, here are a couple layouts I’ve done in the past – these were my first ever created, I hope to improve my skills in the next year!
OTHER STUFF
This post is getting pretty long, so I’ll put a bunch of things in this category. Other stuff I’ve done includes: woodworking, toile painting, jewelry making/beading, cooking (yes, it’s art!), sewing and general crafting. As we go along with this new blog venture, I’m sure you’ll see a few bits and pieces of lots of different things – consider yourself warned!
If you’ve made it this far, I’m impressed! Thanks for checking out my {Create} blog. Let’s create something together!
~Pam
by Pam Tremble | Dec 29, 2009 | Art & Creativity
For the past several years my passion for photography has grown. This shot of a dried hydrangea in Frankenmuth, Michigan is one of my favorites from this past year.
