The Crafty Cafe

Life Is So Daily

Hello friends. It’s a busy busy week. Real daily life (though imperfect) is taking up much of my days, but I’ve got a weekend of creativity planned. I needed to let a few ideas gestate for awhile, sketch a little, jot down some ideas, soak up inspiration in some old but favorite magazines, and step back from thinking I have to do it all backwards and in high heels while wielding scissors and Crop-a-Dile and creating my own baked goods from scratch with organic flour from an island that has no word for ‘stress’.

I’m not stressed… just busy being the ‘day’ me.

She does numbers, reports, and puts out fires.

Looking forward to starting a little creative fire this weekend.

In the mean time I want to make sure you go here to Scoutie Girl for some inspiration if you aren’t already a regular. It’s beautiful writing that always seems to express how I feel with a remarkable flair for giving a voice to that part of ourselves we fight with a lot… being creative vs. being realistic and sound minded. She gives great advice too.

What? Sound minded? What’s that now?

Ok I might be a little stressed…

But it’s nothing a crafty-scrappy-chocolately-chick flicky-slipper wearing-dishes be damned weekend won’t cure.

Course when all else fails…

(By Sad Little Crown)

Sometimes it helps.

Here’s to the ‘daily’ that gets us to the good stuff.

XOXO ,

Daily Imperfections

By Rosie Geissler, see more amazing work here

The term “perfection” is so irrelevant when it comes to living creatively.

And I’m not talking about “there is no perfect design”. We all know that speech.

I mean realizing that in order to nurture creativity in our lives… in real, normal lives where we don’t get to wake each morning to song birds, have a cup of tea on the terrace while we meditate in a billowy lavender gown and watch the fawns playing in the distance…

I’m talking regular daily lives where we wake up way too early to a blaring alarm clock or bellowing children, and live on the notion that coffee is indeed a food group, while we don our uniforms… and don’t get to think about creativity until it fits into our schedule.

It is just a reality for most that creativity takes a back seat to that daily life. There is so much we have to do before we can do what we want to do. We scrapbook, paint, or write after the real work is done first, the kids are in bed (or in my case the husband busy with a video game), calling those moments “me time”.

I don’t think I have to preach about letting the laundry go for a day in the name of creativity, ordering in one night instead of worrying about dinner if deep in thought on a project, or being good to ourselves when it comes to scheduling that “me time”.

But I’ve been thinking lately that in order to truly live a creative life I need to embrace the fact that imperfections in daily real life are indeed daily and just a part of who I am, not only for when I decide to say ” to heck with the laundry” and make time for what I really love to do.

That writing usually means staying up too late and that I won’t get as much sleep as I should.

That to spend time making a mess of paint and paper I forgo home cooked meals way too often in favor of take out.

That I’m just the type of person who would rather play than do what’s responsible around the house…. so it’s pretty neglected dust bunny wise.

Man, I am SO imperfect at this “real” life.

But I’m so creatively fulfilled for it.

What are your daily imperfections that you can embrace in the name of being creative? I hope you can name at least 3 too, or in the rare case you have none at all… at least make one by forgoing the laundry for a little while today in favor of play.

Billowing lavender gowns are probably dry clean only anyway.

Imperfectly,

home performance energy auditor: Pushing chair from under me. Standing up. Hands clapping, clapping, clapping. Those straws are so...
soe6c4y: Thanks that was very helpful :)
Becky Williams: Jess, you are glowing! I am so excited to see that little girl.
Sanet: Hi Jess, How awesome! Seeing that little pic gives me a happy lump in my throat. Enjoy the journe...
jhaun: Thanks so much for the tute!!! How do you make multiple designs on one sheet?
Sanet: Love your blog! It's heartfelt and resonates with me in so many ways. Great job! It is so inspiratio...
Sarah C.: You look gorgeous!! Enjoy every minute of the pregnancy and final "just the two of you" moments. The...
Simply Salvage: Hey there! What an awesome collection of tutorials. I'll be featuring you on my blog later today! ...