Friday Fun: Getting Organized

Recently I've decided I need to be better organized and doing a better job of planning ahead with my craft projects, my blog posts, keeping track of what inspiration I'm finding where, why I like it, etc. and life in general. I love to keep ideas and inspiration in my art journal/sketchbook, but I also need a way to be organized with my thoughts about blog posting and such. So, I'm super excited to get into using a planner in conjunction with my art journal/sketchbook :)
I've been looking around online and have found some fabulous resources to get started.
I found this great website - Ahhh-Design where there are all sorts of free downloads for year-long planners, index cards, and weekly snapshot planners. She also posts about her own planners - so much inspiration. Now if only I could make a binder look as fabulous as this :)

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I found this sheet over at 74 Lime Lane on planning out blog posts each week. It has spaces for the title, links/resources, how you're going to promote it and a to-do list for each day of the week. Brilliant!

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I also decided to purchase this beautiful DIY planner on etsy. It is simply fabulous. The best thing is, you can use it year after year- it is a pdf download so you can print a new one each year and write (or stamp) in the days and dates. LOVE it.

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I went to Target last night and purchased a Liberty of London (!!!) 3-ring binder to put all my new DIY planner materials in - Yay! :) I will be putting it together this weekend and will give a peek once I have it all together (and organized ;)) and start using it.

+ What about you? How do you stay organized? Any tips or ideas?
+ If you blog, do you plan your blog posts way in advance? How do you keep track?
+ Please share! :)

Have a fabulous weekend! :)

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Guest Feature: Not Just Handbags

Today please welcome Elissa of Not Just Handbags.

Elissa has a fabulous assortment of beautiful handmade handbags as well as accessories such as headbands, broaches and clutches. I love her style- simple and vintage-inspired. Welcome, Elissa! :)

Tell us about yourself.
I am 39 and married with two children. I have a serious fabric and button addiction!

How long have you been creating things and what inspired you to begin creating things?
I have been creative since childhood and have always sought to make things, usually because we couldn�t afford them. I loved art and sewing at school and planned to go to art college to study textiles, however, the art teacher had other ideas and this was not to be. A few years ago after a period of creating handmade cards a colleague at work suggested I go part time to my local art college. This turned out to be a defining moment in my life as I realised that this is what I had been needing for a long time. My creativity returned and I now feel as though I am complete.

What is your shop name and what do you sell?
My shop is called Not Just Handbags and it is a collection of unique and original handmade handbags and accessories. I create handbags and accessories that I would wear or use.

How long have you been selling online?
I have been selling online since September 2009.

Describe your creative process: How, when, materials, etc.
I am inspired by many things, usually materials and fabric. This can be in the form of an unused piece of clothing or an old curtain. My favourite place is my local charity shop where you can find all manor of lovely pieces of material and after that my mind goes into overdrive!

Do you promote your shop? How?
I like to think I am in the premier league of promotion as I use.. ok deep breath... Facebook, Twitter, Craft Juice, Craft Gawker, Blog, Forums, Folksy, Etsy, Website, leaflets, business cards... I may have left something out?

Do you sell your items anywhere else (such as boutiques, craft fairs, etc)? Where?
This year I have booked a few craft fairs and did my first one on the 18th April. It was a lovely event as it was organised at a local mill that has been turned into an arts centre. The day was an open studio event as well as a craft fair so there was lots of lovely arts people wandering about. I had an excellent day and all my fears were unfounded as I received a lot of nice feedback.

What keeps your creative juices flowing? How or what are you inspired by?
I love visiting art galleries and reading fashion magazines, however, I don�t agree with following fashion. I believe that everyone should find their own sense of style and only buy things because you like the design or colour of them and not because someone famous has one.

When you hit a creative wall (not feeling like creating, or what to create, etc) how do you get your creative juices flowing again?
I love to doodle and especially with my sewing machine! I empty out my large fabric box and literally sit piecing together pieces of fabric until I find something I like. I also like to play with shapes and will draw them on brown paper until I find something I am happy with that I think will make a nice bag shape. I also don�t think about designs too much, I think you should go with your instinct and if it doesn�t turn out the way you hoped at least you tried.

How do you keep track of things that inspire you or ideas you have?
I have a sketch book that I stick things in that I have ripped out of magazines and I also use this for my doodles and drawing over the magazine snippets to make them into something that I like.

What challenges do you sometimes face when creating?
I have arthritis and sometimes when I have bad flare ups I can maybe only cut out one bag at a time. This means that I have to maybe concentrate on the design side until the flare up subsides and I can carry on. Also, lack of space I create on my dining table and things get a little messy!

What goals do you have for your shop?
At the moment more sales! Due to the economic situation money is tight for everyone so some more sales would be lovely to fund my fabric addiction.

What advice would you give to someone who is new to selling online?
Don�t just open your shop or website and assume that customers will find you. You need to promote, promote, and promote- it is time consuming, especially when you are trying to juggle it with creating, oh and also trying to run a home! This is where multi-tasking definitely comes in handy. I would also say that don�t just use the promotion as tools to sell, you need to build up relationships with other creative folk and this will lead to you helping each other out in terms of widening your promotion net!

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Thank you Elissa! Be sure to check out her shop and other links and leave some love :)
Links:
Website
Etsy Shop
Folksy Shop
Facebook
Twitter
Blog

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So we've been to a local Pick-Your-Own Strawberry Farm twice in the past 4 days :) The berries are super cheap, and absolutely delicious. And of course, it's just fun to pick your own strawberries! :) Needless to say, I've been making and baking a lot of things that contain strawberries. Look at all these wonderful berries. They really are as good as they look :)
A few recipes that we've tried and loved: Strawberry Preserves (yay for having fresh strawberry jam - will be saving some jars for winter) and Strawberry Cobbler (absolutely.wonderful.). Another I will try today is Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate (you can make your own?! I'm so excited about this one).

These strawberry preserves are fabulous. A little time-consuming to make, but well worth it. I'm not one who cans a whole lot (I wish I was, working on that...) so I was a little intimidated about canning the preserves, but it was actually fairly simple. There are a lot of tutorials online about canning and different methods. I chose what seemed to be the simplest - turning the jar over once the hot preserves are in it (and the lid on of course) and letting it seal itself (read below). I made jam last year using this method and it worked.
Strawberry Preserves
6 cups fresh, ripe, whole strawberries, washed and hulled
Boiling water (enough to cover strawberries)
1/2 cup lemon juice
6 cups sugar, divided
3 One-pint jars (or 6 Half-pint jars)

In a large saucepan, cover berries with boiling water; let stand 3 minutes to soften. Drain water and discard. In a large stock pot, place canning jars, lids and rings and fill with enough water to cover completely. Bring to a slow boil. This will sterilize the jars and lids. I let mine slow boil while I was working on the preserves.

Combine berries and 3 cups of the sugar in a 6 to 8 quart saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat; continue to boil slowly on medium heat 8 minutes, stirring constantly. Add remaining 3 cups sugar and lemon juice. Boil 10 minutes more, stirring constantly. Using a candy thermometer, bring to the jelling stage of 220-225 degrees F.

Remove from heat. Stir and skim off foam with metal spoon for about 2 minutes.

Remove one jar, lid and ring from the boiling water with tongs and place on a clean, dry towel. Ladle hot preserves into jar and leave about 1/4" headspace at the top. Wipe the mouth of the jar with a clean cloth, place the lid and ring on and close tightly (not too tightly, but not loosely). Turn the jar upside down (Be careful! The jar as well as the preserves inside are HOT!). Repeat with remaining jars until finished. Wait an hour before turning the jars back over. Be sure to check the the top has inverted down and doesn't move when you press on it. If it does, you need to try again with sealing it.

Strawberry Cobbler
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
3 cups mashed strawberries
1 cup sugar
1 cup Self Rising Flour
1 cup Milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Melt butter in an oven (or microwave) safe bowl. Add strawberries and stir to combine. Pour into 9"x13" greased baking dish. In a separate bowl, combine sugar, flour and milk. Stir well to combine. Pour over strawberry mixture. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until brown. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream :) This cobbler is amazing. A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. :)

Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate
6 cups fresh strawberries, washed and hulled
4 cups fresh lemon juice
6 cups sugar
*You can skip the processing part if you would rather freeze the concentrate. Freeze in 1 to 2 cup portions.

Pur�e strawberries in a blender or food processor until smooth. Mix berries, lemon juice and sugar in a large pot and heat to 190 degrees F, stirring occasionally. Do NOT boil.

Ladle concentrate mixture into hot, sterilized jars (boil jars and lids to sterilize- see recipe above about sterilizing jars), leaving about 1/4" headspace at the top.

To process, place closed jars of concentrate in a boiling water bath (covered completely with boiling water in pot) for 20 minutes.

EDITED: I forgot to show serving info, thanks lundgren79! :) To serve: Mix 1/4 cup (2 oz.) concentrate with 1-1� cups (about 10-12 oz.) water, ginger ale, or club soda. For an extra treat, top with a lemon slice or strawberry, or both :) Originially I had said mix equal parts, but the above proportion works perfectly with water. :)

EDITED AGAIN: Ok, so I made the recipe today (4/29/10) and have a couple of adjustments and tips that I found worked well. I followed the recipe and ended up canning 4 pints worth in pint jars, and instead of doing the boiling water bath as suggested, I tried the "flip the jar over once it is full and the lid is on tight". And they sealed perfectly! Much easier than doing the water bath (for me it was easier, I don't have a stock pot big enough to do the water bath in).

I also decided to freeze single servings in baby food containers (I saved them from when my son ate baby food- they're great for putting snacks in because they have a top - yay for reusing!). Each container holds about 1/4 cup (2 oz.). I mixed one single serving (1/4 cup) with about 10-12 oz. of water - a regular sized drinking glass and it came out PERFECT. Originally my recipe said mix equal parts of concentrate and water or soda, but that would have been waaaay to sweet and heavy. I haven't tried it with ginger ale, so if you try it with that, I would experiment to get the right proportion. Enjoy! :)

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Tuesday Tutorial: Guest Post - May Day Basket

Today please welcome super talented Joanne from Ready, Set, Craft!. She is sharing a super cute tutorial on how to make a basket completely out of paper! This is such a fun a simple basket to make and would be great to give as a gift basket with fun little goodies in it. Think: Mother's Day :)
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Hi there! I'm Joanne from Ready, Set, Craft! and I'm super happy to be here guest posting at The Creative Place today! Ashley creates and shares some absolutely beautiful projects here, and I just love stopping in to read what she's up to and get inspired myself!

I don't know about you, but I'm 100% ready for Springtime. The daffodils and tulips are blooming where I am, showing promise of warmer weather to come! Today I'm sharing with you my tutorial to create a lovely little May Day basket to fill with treasures and pretties in celebration of Spring.

Here's what you'll need:

- One 12x12 sheet of scrapbook paper

- One 81/2x11 sheet of contrasting colored cardstock

- Monoadhesive

- Embellishments

And here's how to make it:

Thanks for having me today - and Happy Spring to you all!

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Monday Faves

Hello, Monday! :) My littlest sis was in town all weekend looking for an apartment - she just got a job in the Research Triangle Park and is moving down here next month after she graduates college!! YAY!!! :) We went strawberry picking, (the bestest, ripest, juiciest strawberries, going to make jam and strawberry lemonade concentrate today!), picnic-ed, ate lots, shopped (mostly for groceries ;)), cooked, and had a great time hanging out :)

What about you? Any fun happenings this weekend? Any new creative endeavors? :)

Some fun faves today- a random assortment with a theme of green, aqua and blue :) Enjoy! :)

1. Set of 3 Hanging Bowls by vesselsandwares
2. Pretty Tin by art4friends
3. Don't Quote Me - Vintage Inspired Notebook by relove
4. Vase Wood Wall Hook Shelf by OldNewAgain
5. Linen Clothespin Bag by CityChicCountryMouse
6. I Love You Hoop by aewilder
7. Lemon Poppy Carved Shell Necklace by littlebrownbird
8. Summer Wish Bracelet by Kosmika
9. Sweet Leaves - Green Damask Fabric Branches by janejoss
10. Button Bling Hair Pins by littlebrownbird
11. Miniature Folders by donovanbeeson
12. Turquoise White and Gray Moonstone Ring Set by littlebugjewelry
13. Rag Ball Trio by AlicesLookingGlass

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Friday Fun

Happy Friday! I hope you have enjoyed this week of eco-friendly ideas, findings, and inspiration :) A few more fun links and some tips from other readers to finish out the week...

Comments on: What about you? Any tips or ideas on being more "green"?

Anonymous said...
Often when I turn on the shower and wait for the water to heat up I have a large pail under the shower head to collect the water Then I use it for watering the plants or hand washing or scrubbing the floor - whatever chore that I plan on doing that needs water. The water is clean and isn't wasted. Plus saves money on the water bill.

Miss Val's Creations said...
Great post! I bring reuseable bags to the grocery store and also keep one in my glove compartment for errands. Another easy thing I do is use small containers to bring my snacks to work instead of plastic bags. I have an adorable reuseable snack bag I purchased on Etsy to carry my silverware in instead of using plasticware.

jess said...
we've been talking about many of the 'greener' choices in several of my classes. my ecology professor really recommends putting in tankless water heaters if you have the opportunity because they are able to heat up the water 'fairly quickly' when you need it, but unlike the tanks they don't run all day long, only when a faucet is turned on. and the best news is that they are continually getting cheaper.

Bego from Spain sent me an email with a link to this fabulous tutorial for making a bath rug out of old towels. Brilliant!! :)

I found these books on amazon.com after searching for "Repurposed Crafts" - I have not read them, but they look to be full of some pretty neat projects :) Definitely on my "to-read list" :)

Handmade Home: Simple Ways to Repurpose Old Materials into New Family Treasures by Amanda Blake Soule

Sewing Green by Betz White
Images source

Check out Betz White's blog here. She has a beautiful blog full of beautiful and fabulous inspiration. She is also offering a giveaway for some beautiful organic fabric and also sharing some links for some other fabulous fabric giveaways. Go here to leave a comment to be entered to win.

Image from Betz White

Have a great weekend! :)

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Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day! :) Jimmy and I went to the hardware store the other day to purchase a few things to make a small container garden and herb garden. Hopefully these will grow well so we can enjoy our own fresh veggies :)
For quite inexpensively, you can make a container garden full of veggies (and flowers - Jimmy picked out the seeds :)). The seed packets were $.25/piece, and we purchased some peat cups for less than $2.00 as well. The peat cups are supposed to really help the seeds start to grow, and since I have a history of not being able to grow anything green except a weed, I invested in some of these :) I already had potting soil on hand, so we were set to go.
Want to make your own?!
Supplies:
- Seed packets - whatever variety you prefer (available at your local hardware or garden store)
- Potting soil
- Container to put each set of seeds in (this set of peat cups was less than $2.00), or you can recycle some old cups you have in the cabinet. I plan on switching to larger cups/containers we have on hand once the seedlings are bigger.
- If you are making an herb garden, you will also need a larger container to be able to put a bunch of herb seeds in.
- Container of water (about 2 cups)
- Small garden shovel or a kitchen fork
- Pencil to dig a hole to put the seeds in (or you can use your fingers)
Jimmy loves playing in the water :) Notice how we finally have grass growing right beside our sidewalk? Remember what it used to look like? :)
Put an even amount of potting soil (about 3/4 full) in each container.
After filling the pots with water, I put them in a plastic tray to be able to carry them around. Water each pot with a couple of tablespoons of water.Using a fork or garden tool, mix up the soil so it is moist throughout.Plant seeds in each pot according to package directions. Be sure to label each pot once the seeds are planted so you know which is which.
To plant an herb garden, pick out which herbs you would like to grow. We picked basil, parsley and chives. We used an aluminum bucket (about 4"x12") to put ours in. Fill bucket 3/4 full with potting soil and pour about a 1/2 cup water (depending on size of bucket) to moisten soil throughout. "Divide" bucket into three sections and plant each herb in its own "section" (so, basil in one section, parsley in one section and chives in one section). Be sure to label each section so you know which is which :)Now that your seeds are all planted, make some sort of tag to label what each plant is. You could hand write the labels on a small piece of paper and tape it to each pot or maybe even write directly on the pot? You could also cut out part of the seed package and tape that to the pot as well. I decided to make some fun tags on the computer. I made them 1.5" x 2" and printed them on cardstock. (If you would like a .pdf or .jpg file of the tags, feel free to email me and I would be more than happy to send them to you!) I used kabob skewers and cut them into 4" sections. I then cut out the tags and taped them to the skewer sections. Not the best if it rains, but I plan on just bringing the plants inside (or at least removing the tags and remembering which is which!) before it rains. We have a bucket outside to collect rainwater which I will use to water them if I do bring them inside. You could also cover the tags in contact paper and that would make them more waterproof.Voil�! An herb garden and a soon-to-be container garden!

What about you? Do you have a garden? Or a container or patio garden? Any tips or ideas for growing plants?

Happy Earth Day! :)

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