Ironically enough for a blog with "purpose" in the title, there really was no real purpose for me to begin this blog other than an outlet to share some of my pent-up creative energy. But the more I get thinking about it, I do have a purpose. Although I am one of those people who will gladly sit and paint, or glue, or cut paper for hours without noticing how quickly the time has gone by, I think in this pinterest era we have going on right now, there is a lot of pressure out there for people, women especially, to attain this Martha-level perfectionism that is more stressful than stress-relieving. Don't get me wrong. I love Martha and pin more than I care to admit. But I know a lot of people who feel pressure to have the perfectly-decorated home, or make the perfect first birthday party, instead of just enjoying the moment.
Creativity should not be stressful. It should be the opposite. It should be an outlet to express yourself, and not a Madonna kind of way, although if that's your thing more power to ya!
I find that what usually brings me the most joy in creating anything is when I can put my efforts and energy into something for a reason. Whether it is a handmade gift for someone special, finding a way to recycle something and find a new use, or reusing items I already have on hand to save money, there are a lot of ways to exert our creative energies for something meaningful and with purpose. Then, for me at least, no matter my time investment, it feels worth it to me and a joy to create.
Here are a few examples:
This is the finished product of a special fabric baby book for my niece, with tabbies and textures and crinkle, all of which are baby crack. I did the same for my first niece before I had a sewing machine and had to hand-stitch that bad boy. It was worth every minute. All of the fabric and ribbon I used were scrap (free! well, free the second time) fabric...but I did purchase iron-on patches for this book, because craft stores are my kryptonite.
These are some decorations I made for my sister's baby shower. I taped some skewers on the back and they became cupcake toppers. I later saved these after the shower and have made them into gift tags and to decorate cards. I love multi-use crafts! (P.s. I still have a bunch of these, so family get ready to see this color scheme for years to come! haha)
This was a sign my sisters and I put together for my dad's 60th birthday bash. He hates to be the center of attention, so of course us women got together and decided to throw a big backyard barbeque to honor the man. He should be used to us women getting our way by now, right? This was a completely free (!) decoration and we had so much fun looking through boxes of old pictures and reminiscing. Obviously the painter's tape left something to be desired, but everyone had such a blast looking at the old pictures and believe me, there were some gems there.
I look forward to sharing some of my random ideas, failures, musings, anecdotes, and whatever floats my boat, here on Creative with Purpose, ironically, for no other purpose than I feel like it. Here goes!
