Connections

Linking, connecting, being a part of something and it in turn being a part of you... it's called connection and I think more and more in our ever connected world, people are craving a more meaningful connection. As a creator, so much of what I make is in a studio, behind closed doors and in solitude. Many of the makers, the tinkerers, the doers types I am so blessed to have poking around in my world have expressed at one time or another, how isolation itself, the act of creating alone, isn't much of a sparring partner for their inner muse. Creativity, that magical ability to connect the random dots everyone sees in such a way that a picture emerges, is so much more meaningful when one can actually share that discovery with another. 

Awhile back, whilst demoing for an amazing company (Grant Studio) at a industry trade show (Craft and Hobby), I got sidetracked showing a beautiful soul how to make a "gum wrapper" bracelet out of a pile of scraps we had laying around. As it turned out, she spent her entire middle school years wearing braces on her teeth and was never allowed to chew gum... thus, she had never been exposed to the joys of folding the wrappers and MacGyvering them into many versions of wearable lovelies. To create a bracelet, we needed 66 links (the span of about 15 minutes) and something to talk about to pass the time. As we folded, others stopped by and sat down at the table, each having their own story about how, when, and where they themselves had learned to link the wrappers of gum that tended to lose it's flavor much too quickly. As our hands were busy, memories came flooding back and in the re-telling, the moment right then, that connection of strangers linked in a common project, made it's way into each of our creations. The ironic part to the whole story was the fact that this woman had been following me on the various social networks, she was someone I had never met but had "connected" with at some point... it wasn't until we made something together that we were truly linked.

School

Our second born child pouts... often. He'll hate me later on, years from now, for writing this but, it's true. His internal sense of efficiency is oftentimes tested by the irrational (according to him) way one must be 'forced" to use time, time that belongs to a person and should not be aribitrarily usurped by someone else. School would be one of these things. "We gotta learn by doing things, not by sitting and listening to stories about what other people did. You know, all those people who did amazing stuff, built rockets and discovered other planets, well, they didn't do it sitting at a desk doing worksheets in some school. You can't dig space rocks from a piece of paper." 

He makes me laugh. Now that the kids go to a virtual academy, learning isn't "school", it's self-initiated. They have their assignments that they are indentured to but, the rest of their time belongs to them and they are free to chase after all the rockets that didn't manage to leave the backyard to prepare them for their next mission. School is starting for so many kids this week... may the education they received playing and discovering all summer give them the incentive to finish what they must, so in that, they can go make their mark, be the people the kids of the future will read about, and be free to learn simply because they can.

To learn more about this scrapbook lay-out and how it was made, visit Bic Mark-it

Fresh

Strawberries taste better when you pick them yourself. There is something more in it's sweetness, that lingering aftertaste of self-initiative and accomplishment perceptible to the person who tilled the soil, cultivated the plants, had their work boots covered in mud, and bite into the fruit of their labor.

Everyday we are given the opportunity to grow something, be it an actual seed or an idea, a person or even a community. We are given a field, a canvas, a workbench, an outstretched hand and the amazing chance to taste something so sweet, so fresh, so incredibly good.

(For the complete project & stepped out instructions, please visit Bic Mark-it)