Happy New Years!

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This is the time of year when we all start new.  It’s the time to make goals and get organized.

The more I work on living a more purposeful life through my endless to-do list, the more apparent it becomes that simple is better.  It is so important to prioritize your time and do your best to let go of things that aren’t compatible with the goals you want the most.  As hard as it may be to admit we can’t do it all.

This year my resolution is to achieve a realistic perspective of my daily tasks so that I can continue to work on my creative pursuits in a manner that is in balance with my health and family.

To celebrate 2020 I am giving away a simple digital planner to be delivered to your inbox monthly when you sign up to follow the Colburn Creative Life blog.

Wishing you a Happy and Creative New Year!

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Hand Carved Stamp

Hand-Made Stamps. Super Fun!

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Happy Fall!!  Time to get ready for the holidays!!

Christmas is right around the corner and I love Christmas…  

This year I am working on several new projects for my Etsy stationery shop: colburncreativstudio in preparation for the holidays.  My favorite discovery in my ventures has been the discovery of carving custom stamps.  It is really kind of simple and so much fun!  It’s a very intuitive process and mostly just about being careful and working slowly since once you carve it off it can’t go back on.

For my stamp I used Speedball Easy Carve and the Speedball Cutting Tool.  You could use woodcutting tools as well.  The materials are pretty inexpensive especially for small stamps and it makes for a fun quick project.  I discovered this while working on my Christmas designs, but I think a custom stamp will also work very well for heat embossing Thank you cards.

Instructions:

  • Trace design onto some tracing paper.  I like to create my own digital artwork, because it allows for a unique but refined design.  It allows me more control over the initial design than drawing freehand will.

  • Place tracing paper face down on Speedycut material and with edge of a soft lead pencil rub to cover entire tracing. (I used a 3b drawing pencil for this project). The design will come out in reverse, but this is correct and any text on the finished stamp will stamp on the paper in the correct orientation.
  • Start cutting out smaller v-shaped blade first to start outlining the design.  Remember only the uncut areas will show. Move onto the bigger blades as there are larger areas to remove. Be careful to start small since you can’t put it back on.
  • Once you are close to finished you can ink the stamp and then cut any extras away.  Remember that it’s the imperfections that make it look handmade so have fun and don’t worry too much. I really like how it looks when there are little extra lines surrounding a stamp design.  It gives the design a kind of rustic and hand-crafted look.

I hope you enjoyed this simple project.

Happy Crafting!

April

Fall Foraging

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Findings on Fall Foraging Expedition with my 5 year old.

This month I’ve been inspired by my kindergartener. We went for a nature walk just up the street from our house and ended up collecting a little handful of interesting things. My Mikey is so interested in the small things in the world around us. He picked up moss and little hunks of asphalt. Things that I wouldn’t have given a second thought to. We came across a wild herb garden behind an old hospital up the street and found some fennel which smelled sooo yummy. We were especially captivated by a strange pokey fruit that looked like a berry but grew on a tree. We googled it and found out that it was actually a type of dogwood and is apparently edible although neither of us dared to test that theory out.

The little things that we ended up with were strangely beautiful when layed out together. For me, so much of creativity is just learning to really see what’s in front of you. There is often beauty to be found in the simple things around us. I took some pictures and I’m imagining a sort of urban botanical drawing from them. It feels like a very interesting and inspired idea.:)

I feel like we adults can learn a lot when we can switch perpectives and view the world through the eyes of a young child; turning our eyes to the small things and approaching everyday life with a sense of wonder… Happy foraging!!

Finding time for Creativity

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In our hectic world it seems as if there is often little time for cultivating creativity. Creative pursuits are often viewed as less important because they seem akin to play. Who has time for play when there is so much work to be done?

Unless we make creativity an intentional act it will be easily put aside for life’s many demands. Creativity requires being able to step aside from life’s demands to clear a moment to live in the present and think of nothing else the but the project at hand. In this way it is akin to meditation and it seems to me that it must also be beneficial to our mental health in some similar way.

Probably the simplest way to schedule creativity into our day is to wake up a half hour to an hour earlier and make our creative time an intentional act first thing in the morning before all of life’s other demands get in the way.  There is something really lovely about the idea of having time when your mind is fresh, and the house is still quiet to engage in your creative project.  You can then use this experience to set a positive tone for the rest of your day.

However, if you are like me and not a morning person waking up early is more easily said than done. This leaves no other option but to actually develop a schedule of sorts and clear some “me time” in it for creativity. This time must be made a priority in your daily life.  I group this time in my daily schedule among the things I do to stay sane and happy. For me these things are drawing, exercise, and taking time to commune with God through prayer and scripture study.  I also try to schedule in time to go outdoors since sunshine is good for you and it never hurts to take the time to notice God’s creations in the world around us.

This schedule can be something as simple as a to do list. I like Microsoft To-Do which comes free with Office. If you want something that is more detailed, and goal oriented a dot journal is an intriguing idea.  I’m currently reading a book on how to create and use a dot journal; Dot Journaling—A Practical Guide by Rachel Wilkerson Miller. I like the idea of dot journaling because it has the capacity to tie our life’s goals to our monthly, weekly, and daily schedules. Being goal oriented is supposed to be one of the most important things a person can do to maintain direction and cultivate success in life.  Besides this many people end up using dot journaling as a creative outlet which is intriguing to me.

In conclusion, I hope you will take some time to make creativity an intentional act and a consistent part of your daily life.  Let me know in the comments below what you do to make time for creative pursuits your life.

References

Christensen, T. (2017, October 3). What to do when there’s no time for creativity. Retrieved from Creative Something: https://creativesomething.net/post/166024531480/what-to-do-when-theres-no-time-for-creativity

Photo by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash

The Joy of the Forest!

I absolutely love trees. I think they are one of the most beautiful things on the planet, which is why they are often the focus of my photos and from there carry over into my illustration projects. I especially love trees at sunset, when there is something about the light and shadow that is almost magical. These moments when you can feel the divine in the seemingly ordinary have always held a special interest to me. It is really lovely to once in a while really open your eyes and see the beauty in the world around you.

Below are a couple of a photos I took earlier this summer at Chautauqua Creek, a really serenely beautiful fishing stream that empties into Lake Erie. I converted it to sepia tones in Photoshop. I think this really makes the sunshine and shadow the focus. It is also kind of vintage which I love.

Photo: Sunset at Chautauqua Creek

Photo: Chautauqua Creek

I’ve been creating some ink drawings using these photos as my inspiration. I am also playing with introducing a bit of a multimedia effect to my finished products in the form of craft cards, white highlights and glitter or foil. I’ll keep you posted on my experiments with introducing gold highlights. I just love sparkley stuff!! Below is my work in progress.

Ink Illustration: Sunset at Chautauqua Creek
Ink Illustration: Chautauqua Creek

I’d like to challenge you this month to take a little venture away from the monotony of the everyday and to open your eyes and be inspired by the beauty to be found in the world around you!

Happy journeys!

Create a Little Every Day!

Last week I discussed the importance of scheduling time for creative pursuits. I wanted to take this opportunity to share some of the artwork that I have created recently. I have recently returned to my drawings after a very long time of not creating any of my own artwork. I love to draw beautiful things and lately roses are one of my favorite subjects. I draw very slowly. I can sit down and only draw a single leaf in the hour I have available. I didn’t draw for several years because I would start projects and never get the big blocks of time that I thought I needed to finish them. It has since occurred to me that even if I can only find a few hours a week that with persistence it will add up and eventually you have a finished project. Waiting to be not busy never happens and in the end you are left with nothing of your own to feel good about. So even if you can only find half an hour for yourself in a day, invest that time in a creative project and in time you will have a creation of your own!

This Illustration is the result of weeks of work an hour at a time.
Remember the little bits add up!

Welcome

Hello I’m April. I’m a visual artist from western New York. Have you ever wanted to live a more creative life? Me too. Colburn Creative Life is my new blog where I will post articles exploring creative pursuits that I enjoy. I will explore subjects such as drawing, crafting, gardening, cooking, and venturing out into nature. These are the all things that help me to feel more fulfilled and well rounded. I think we all want to feel more engaged and inspired in our daily lives. Hopefully my experiences can help you to get ideas and to feel inspired too. Enjoy…