all things creative

Tis the season...

when crafters go insane.

So much to do, so little time to do it! And so much inspiration out there. I get frenzied wanting to create everything I see. Which is impossible I know. But still...

Anyway, I want to share one of my favorite holiday inspirers (yes I think I originated that word). Tim Holtz is fantastically creative. Not only does he create wonderful art, he also creates all the products used in his wonderful art. How can you beat that? I've taken a class with Tim and he is just the bomb. I want to be Tim in my next life. For the last three years Tim has created the "12 Tags of Christmas", posting a new creation every morning (at 12:01am), sharing amazing techniques, fun products and stimulating the creative juices. This year he posted this awesome little 'trailer' to get us hyped for this year's 12 Tags ... check it out:

 

You see what I mean? He's the bomb!

I'll be following along each day, if not to make the tags, at least to drool over them. And posting to his comments because every day he has a fabulous give away! You do not want to miss out so meet me over on Tim's blog each morning and let's GET CRAFTY!!

Make it a merry one!

Free E-zines to get your craft on!

There is a fun resource out there in the internet ether that many people aren't aware of. Self-publishing websites. These sites offer up self-published e-zines, white papers, newsletters, reports, and even full-blown books for download. Some of these are free, some charge a fee, some are just teasers for commercial publications, but there is such a wide variety of material that there is certainly something for everyone. It can get a little frustrating sifting through some of the ummmm...less interesting...less valuable...ok I'll just say it, crap, on these sites. But if you dig enough you can find some gems among the rocks. Since I'm focused on all things creative here, I'm just going to share some links to crafty content. However, if you are interested, here's a link to a whole list of similar epublishing sites and you can search to your heart's content:

Issuu Similar Sites | Websites Like Issuu.com - SimilarSiteSearch.com.

The first publication comes by way of Danielle of Vintage Dragonfly fame. I've done several small art swaps with her and she is always the most gracious hostess. She dished up this link on her blog, which I followed and it ended up being the inspiration for this post. It was published on ISSUU which has this great tool that allows you to embed content into your site, so I included a couple other gems from there because I thought it was cool.

On the magazine image you will see a small arrow along the right side of the page, if you click this it will turn the pages. If you click on the image it will open to the full size. I love this stuff.

This is a free e-zine published by Amy Powers (inspire co.) on ISSUU and offers up some cute craft ideas. 

Open publication - Free publishing - More happy

Here's one promoting handmade for children, although it includes some craft ideas and instructions as well. Most of the products in this publication can be purchased on Etsy, which I talked about in this post.

Open publication - Free publishing - More winter

One more, just because...

Open publication - Free publishing

The following are from the site SCRIBD, which also has a cool embedding tool. Who knew?

This first one is dedicated to at least one proud grandma who reads my blog (that would be you Darlene!). Fun stuff to do with your grandbabies.

Grandparents.com 100 Free Things

This is an excerpt from an actual book, Mixed-Media Paint Box: Weekly Projects for a Year of Creative Expression , but I included it because a couple of the projects shared are from Kelly Rae Roberts who is a favorite of mine (I took her class Flying Lessons a few months ago).

Mixed Media Paintbox

That's enough because I'm tired of sifting through the rocks. I just wanted to share yet another great resource for useful and FREE stuff that can be found on the internet. Photos, videos, publications....it's all right at our fingertips. Now that I can order my groceries online,  I think I am well on my way to becoming an agorophobic and never leaving my house! LOL.

Make it a good one!

In search of gratitude...

Well, Halloween is done and gone and 2010 nearly is as well. This time of year starts a roller coaster panic ride for me - the excitement of the holiday season is tempered with sheer terror as the end of the year looms closer and closer. I lay awake at night thinking of all I need to do, and all that I haven't done. Especially this year. I've had an extended time off work (thanks economic meltdown) and every day I consider all the SHOULD haves -- I should have done this, I should have done that, I should be further ahead than I am...the never ending chatter that reverberates inside my head. If I listen to this chatter, I will end this year huddled in the fetal position in my bed with the covers pulled over my head and I may never get out again. So, instead, I choose to focus on more worthy thoughts. Which brings me to my search for gratitude. There is nothing that opens the heart and quiets the voice like sincere gratitude. How can you be in a panic when you have so much to be grateful for right now?

November for me is my month of gratitude. I'm creating my gratitude journal (which should have been done by Nov. 1 says The Voice! Oy. See what I mean?), and each day I will write, and hopefully photograph, what I am most grateful for. Since I'm starting a day late, I'm going to share other Gratitude Journals that I've found around the web. Tomorrow I should be able to share mine.

I invite you to share in the comments below what you are most grateful for.

Cathy Zielske is an amazing, and amazingly funny, scrapbook designer who exemplifies the clean and simple approach to design. In fact, she's written two books titled just that, "Clean & Simple Scrapbooking". Check out my sidebar to see the books. Anyway, she's gone on to design digital and hybrid products now and following is her 2009 Gratitude Project.

If you like what you see, the digital kit can be found here.

Here's one I found on Two Peas In A Bucket (a scrapbooking store and probably the largest SB forum on the web).The rest of the album can be found here.

This one is wonderful. She uses the Teresa Collins Giving Thanks line (well, she is on the design team after all) and it is just beautiful.The rest of the book is on her blog, CherInspirations.

Hopefully these have inspired you to want to record your own blessings this month. If you aren't a scrapbooker, you can always just jot down your thoughts in a little moleskin journal or use this wonderful gratitude book (available at Amazon):

 

As for today, in addition to creating my Gratitude Journal, I'm FINALLY going to get my hair cut. It has been six months since I got my hair cut and it is a mess. Worse really. I'm wearing hats almost every day if that tells you anything. LOL.  I'm also going to work on my web site, KathiKirchmeier.com, which I hope will be launched soon, and I need to knock out 10 items for my upcoming trunk show (more details about that to come). Whew. Busy day. Busy week. Time to get on it.

Oh yeah --- GET OUT AND VOTE! I did!

Make it a good one!