Word of the Day…Again

Or “oh, for heaven’s sake NOT that again”

I might be obsessed with thinking about creativity. I want another WOTD book, but am settling right now for Eric Maisel’s book, The Creativity Book: A Year’s Worth of Inspiration and Guidance. My sister sent it to me and I am making my best effort at it.

One thing that Julie does is pick a word of the year. I heard about this from the Creative Mom Podcast and from other places. I have never been able to settle on a word. OR, more accurately, I have never sat down and given a word for the year enough thought to choose one. I found Ali Edwards word of the year post and thought about it again.

Do you choose a word of the year? If so, what is your word (please post to comments).
If not, do you do something to inspire you every day?

clipped from aliedwards.typepad.com

My One Little Word : Story

For 2010 I have chosen the word STORY.

EDITED: I just came across this really nice free download “Word of the Year Discovery Tool” from blogger Christine Kane. It’s a worksheet for thinking through your word and essentially telling the story of your word. Totally recommended. This is a great action step.

  blog it

Valentine’s Tree

Sew4Home Jan 2009
Sew4Home Jan 2009

On FB, I am a fan of Janome Sewing machines. Periodically they post a project from their sister site sew4home. This update included heart sachets displayed on a tree. The concept reminded me of a thought I had where I would decorate my ficus for each holiday. Not sure what I would do for MLK Jr Day or Veteran’s Day. Tiny flags, perhaps.

So far, I haven’t done anything like it and am still working on the napkins for each holiday.

Gift Post #7: Denim Bag

Denim Bag
Denim Bag

This is a denim bag I made out of of an old pair of jeans for my stepdad, The Big Guy. I made one of these in high school that I carried around and embellished. I am not really sure what happened to that bag or whether there are any photos of it anywhere. I stitched around the edges of the pockets with embroidery floss and embroidered flowers on my version.

I wanted to do something like that on this bag, but really ran out of time. I had a lot of gifts to make, as you know.

The shoulder strap is pretty wide. I made it that wide because of the seams and because I thought it might be a little more comfortable for him to carry. The straps will be a good opportunity for him to embellish.

I really had a hard time sewing through the denim and all of the layers in various places. The 9K did NOT like the denim. As a result, I couldn’t do as much topstitching as I normally do on bags. Both of the issues I ran into allowed me to go with the flow, though, and I billed it as a joint work in progress.

The Big Guy is VERY creative. He works in various media including leather. He has made leather slippers before, so I thought the bag might be a good canvas for him to stitch on. He loved the idea! I am looking forward to seeing what he comes up with.