A creative break from making clutches.

Sometimes you just need a break from making clutches.  As wonderful and exciting as finding new fabrics and the creative process, once you do it for a living, just like all things, you need a break some times.  One of my customers reminded me of that when she commented on a blog post that she was getting back into making clutches after taking a much-needed break.

Speaking of finding new fabrics, look what I just got.  I’m working on some new patterns right now.  It’s a lot of refinement, but I’ll get there.

Beautiful fabrics in blues, greens, and whites.

Oh, do you guys remember me mentioning about this amazing fabric below?  This is a skirt.  For a 20-year-old.  I’m not 20.

NO way am I getting into this! Maybe – maybe – 20 years ago. That’s a big maybe.

Well, I had envisioned this on me, but as a cross-body clutch.  Here’s a preview below.  I’ll post about this soon to come.

Much better!

This clutch is a hit with all my friends especially with summer coming up.  I still have some more of this fabric and will be working with it to make an 8-inch clutch.  Oh what was my point?

With fabric strewn about the house while designing and pieces of thread hanging from my *ss, I just needed a break.  Obviously my mind is quite loud and disorganized — unorganized (?) – so I needed a break.

I really encourage that – taking a break.  When I take a break, it usually involves any or all of my 3 kids.  Can’t just leave them at home to fend for themselves… not for another 8 years!    A lot of my breaks from work involve traveling.  And you know that while we spend our money on having experiences (through travel) and not through accumulating things, vacations are spendy.  So a cheap mental break for me that I also have found to ramp up my creative juices is painting figurines with my daughter.  It costs me a dollar — one dollar — per figurine for some creative bliss.  In the moments that I paint, I cannot focus on anything else but the painting itself.  All the other noises seem to fade.  It takes me many hours to finish one figurine, so I get to stretch my dollar even farther — further (?)!  (Grammar Police can feel free to comment below.)  I usually paint for a 45-minute stretch.  That’s all I have time for, but it’s still 45 minutes, so I’ll take it!

This is what the figurines look like before they are painted.

For $1!  The “before” look. Kinda boring …

This is the “after”…. after hours of painting and layering the paints.

Most of the time, I do what I call “rescues”.  Rescues are the figurines that my daughter painted but no longer wants.  She just turned seven, and is improving her skills, so let’s just say her figurines need a lot of rescuing!  Instead of throwing them out and spending another dollar (OMG, I am tight with money), I use her painted ones and try to fix them up.

Here’s another “before” of the original.

Cute bunny watering into an empty basket?  And it has no discernible mouth.  Poor bunny rabbit.

Well, Hayley decided to paint it bright pink, because now that she’s out of the tomboy phase, she loves all things pink, princesses and tiaras.  Of course!

I did the best that I could. This bunny is really pink! Incidentally, I had made a little mistake with the black paintbrush and it made a mark by the eyes. I went ahead and did that to the other eye, and it makes the eyes look more alive.  The use of brown to soften the pink and to provide depth really made a difference.

So why I am blogging about painting figurines?  Well, it’s just my cheap mental escape from work that also fuels my creative fire.  When you are in business for yourself, you can get lost in just work, and you can work untold hours.  I’ve done it.  I know you’ve done it as well.  Whatever way you can find to get a break, do it.  You’ll feel better and more refreshed.  Enjoy this creative break. 

This was another rescue.

That “heart” was a chip in the figurine. I decided to highlight it by painting it red like a heart. Doesn’t it look like it’s either a tattoo on Winnie the Pooh, or like he’s puckered up like a geisha or Betty Boop?

One way to get that puckered up look …

I think Winnie the Pooh’s reminds me more of Betty Boop’s pucker!

Awww, love these cute bears!  I don’t love my color combination so much…

This could have gone a completely different direction. It could’ve been a pink castle as the hearts and flowers indicate, but I saw Santorini instead.

What do you think?  Santorini is on my bucket list just so I can see the blue!

And my favorite figurine is this one. Look at these two guys! I made them to be reb-brown Labs. If this figurine comes back in again, I think I’ll try a lighter look on the dogs and house. How cute are the eyes of the top dog?

Now go and enjoy a break!