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Finding Creative: Chalkboard Lettering Draft List

July 19, 2015 by Mariah 2 Comments

You guys!! I can’t tell you how blown away and how awesome all your comments were to my “What is creative” question last week. Seriously go check out the comments. I loved all the comments so much! I was particularly struck by the idea of doing something in a new way or something outside your normal as being creative, I really liked the idea of that.

This week is a bit of a lame one. I didn’t really have too much free time this week, and I have a friend coming to town, so I sort of just squeezed something in. I had grand ideas, but ended up having to just throw something together. The whole project was a bit of a mess before it even began. Last year I made a chalkboard for our draft list, but I have not used it since we moved. So I decided chalkboard lettering would be perfect; get the draft list up and do a creative activity. Well….

Let’s start with the instruction. Of course it’s Skillshare:

Chalkboard Lettering: Adding Charm To Your Home

An Online Skillshare Class by Lauren Hom

I had saved this class, and thought it would be perfect for this week. The class is nice and short at 38 minutes, so I watched it while eating lunch. She makes it look so easy, but let me tell you about my project….

First of all I can’t find the regular chalk, just the chalk pens. Next, I can’t erase the writing on the chalkboard, I scrub and scrub. Finally, I get out a magic eraser sponge. Ok, got most of the old writing off. Already totally frustrated.

Then I can’t get the chalk ink to stick, I go through a few tries, erase, still not really working, change colors, ok that works. Also the erasing is not going well, it’s scrub, scrub, not wipe off. Err…

At this point I just want to get something on the board. All thoughts of lettering is out the door, well mostly. This is what I managed…

Now the final kick to the project is the board won’t even stick to the kegerator!?!! It’s stainless steel not like the old refrigerator we use to have the kegs in. Oh well, it’s behind the taps for now. I’m going to have to come up with a new way to identify the beers, but for now this is it.

Not the best week for “finding” creative 🙂 This was super lame, but I’m really trying to stick to this series, and I said I would just share, share, share. Also, the pictures sucked. To make it up to you guys, I’m sharing something that I do think is super creative and fun.

Have you guys seen this IG account? It’s animated grammar lessons!! So neat!

A video posted by Alma Loveland (@getwordwise) on Jul 3, 2015 at 4:20pm PDT

I would love for you to share an IG account that you find particularly creative below!

Creative Sunday Has A New Name

July 12, 2015 by Mariah 14 Comments

The following is a complete brain dump. I decided to write with very little editing of thought about what I think this series is/how I’m defining it. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED 🙂

I’m still feeling out this idea of a series Creative Sunday, it’s not really something that I thought through very well. I just decided to put it out there, make it public, no planning, don’t overthink it. I’m not even sure I like the name. What’s creative anyway? Does it mean crafty, does it mean artsy, does it mean 100% original or just completing a project from Pinterest?

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary Definition of Creative–

: having or showing an ability to make new things or think of new ideas

: using the ability to make or think of new things : involving the process by which new ideas, stories, etc., are created

: done in an unusual and often dishonest way

But then let’s look at the root….

The Latin word creāre, meaning “to produce” or “to cause,” gives us the root cre. Words from the Latin creāre have something to do with producing or causing. To create something is to produce it. Anyone creative is able to produce new and original things.

So, if you re-produce something, are you still actually creating? I mean you are producing something, the originality may be questionable, but you probably added your own flair to it. Creativity seems to be murky. I once read somewhere, that almost no artist is actually creating truly original works. That to live in the same world as other artists and see the same sights and sounds, roots itself into inspiration, and while you may interpret it originally, it’s not truly 100% original. I can’t remember where I read it, but it’s an interesting concept.

The point of this rambling is to say, my definition may be much looser than what you consider creative. Basically, yes I think completing a Pinterest project would totally count for a Creative Sunday. In all reality, we could argue that just by typing out this post with words I’m engaging in creativity. Or not, since a blog post in the most general sense is not original, the words are, but the idea of typing them and sharing is not. See this is overthinking it.

I originally thought I would just share one “creative” activity that I did that week, but I’m already bored with that. It’s not enough. I’m thinking of expanding or not. Or not always sharing a project, but resources or inspiration instead? Let me take a step back. Let’s share why I even thought I wanted to start this series:

To make sure I’m trying a new or expanding on a “creative” skill each week, beyond blogging. Yes it’s funny because I’m sharing it on the blog…just move past it. That’s not the point 🙂
To not be afraid to share something that’s a mess. I have a hard time with learning new things and sharing them with people. Honestly, I’m usually so embarrassed to even say I tried something new and for anyone to ask me questions. I’m not sure why. I always feel like a fraud, or not good enough. I’m embarrassed of things I don’t know. It’s hard to explain, but I thought my forcing myself to share publicly new things I’m trying will help me get over that weird feeling.
To find my passion? I don’t really feel I have that spark with anything. I like to try new things, but is that a passion? I like things/activities but feel very reluctant to say I have a passion for any one thing. Maybe I just don’t have that kind of spark? I actually feel a little embarrassed writing out “find my passion”. Sometimes writing blog posts clarifies things for me, so maybe writing about new things I try, will help me to realize if I’m really into that activity or not. Or I just bore the shit out of you guys 🙂
It seemed like a good idea when I wrote it as a goal.

If you are still with me, I guess what I’m saying is this series is more about me than a definition or a defined post series. Should I change the name? Random Sundays? Or Finding Creative…yes, going with that!!

SO, my new Creative Sunday series is now Finding Creative and has no rules or set definition:) It will be something in relation to being creative, as defined by me… finding creativity/inspiration, doing something creative or some other variation of that as in hobby, crafting, Pinteresting, body painting, underwater basket weaving, and so on and so forth (except body painting, what is that? Like face painting? Oh and I’m not good at holding my breath.)

Anyway, let’s get away from the labels…I think we are all creative. I’m going to try to find what creative means to me.

I also want to say thank you for all the encouraging comments I got last week, you guys are too kind!

How do you define creative?

Creative Sunday: Hand-Lettering

July 5, 2015 by Mariah 15 Comments

Hello Blogland, welcome to my creative Sunday! Each Sunday I’m going to try to post something that I worked on in the past week that is exercising creativity. I’m doing this to make sure I’m trying something new each week, and trying to finish projects. I want to push myself to try new things, and sharing them helps. It’s going to be a mixed bag 🙂

This week I finished this hand-lettering course on Skillshare:

Hand-Lettering Basics

An Online Skillshare Class by Brit + Co

Here is a little of my practice:

I was hoping to get a quote together or something, but that didn’t’ happen this week. Oh well, small steps. Hopefully next Sunday will be a bit more exciting or at least prettier. Hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July weekend!!

What did you create this past week?

Blogging How To: Coding Social Media Buttons

November 24, 2014 by Mariah 7 Comments

I’m bringing something to you guys from left-field today, a blogging how to!! As I just passed the one-year mark I thought it was about time I’ve shared a few things I’ve learned. One of my pet peeves when reading blogs are links that don’t open into new windows, I hate when I click on a link and the page I’m reading gets replaced. HATE IT! For the longest time my social media buttons did just that. It did not occur to me to simply “Google” how to fix said problem, until I took a coding class. Whether you are new or old to blogging, I highly recommend taking a HTML and CSS class. Do I think you need to learn to code your whole site? No, but learning the basic concepts of how the pieces fit together to run your blog is SO helpful and makes tackling small changes much less scary. Today, I’m sharing how to make your social media links open into their own windows. It’s so simple!

To get your links to open in a new window, you just need to add the code:

target="_blank"

This code will make any link open in a new window, not just your social media buttons. 🙂 Of course when you are linking within your post it is much easier to just check the “open in new window” box when you use the link tool.

Since I use WordPress I’m detailing that process. Regardless of your platform you should be able to find your social media coding and add this snippet of code into the same place in that string of code.

Go to Appearance →Widgets

Find your social media widget and add in target=”_blank” after your destination code (where the clicked link leads to).

Here is the code used to link to my Twitter account:

<a href="https://twitter.com/foodboozebags" target="_blank" ><img title="Twitter" src="http://www.foodboozeandbaggage.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Twitter.png" alt="" width="45" height="45"/>

Prior to adding in the new code it looked like:

<img title="Twitter" src="http://www.foodboozeandbaggage.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Twitter.png" alt="" width="45" height="45"/>

You will need to add this code to each of your social media code lines:

If you are completely new to blogging and do not have social media buttons yet, you can easily add them:

1. Upload your social media icon files

2. Go to Appearance →Widgets

Drag the “Text” widget over to the right-hand side, under your sidebar

3. Name the Text Widget whatever you want to. Mine is “Connect”, you may want to name your’s “Get Social” or “Stalk Me”…whatever. What you put in the “Title” field, will show on your sidebar.

4. Now add in the code! Just copy and paste the below, and add in your information to the areas in red. The width and height settings are up to you, depending on how large or small you want your icons.

<img title="Twitter" src="http://www.foodboozeandbaggage.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Twitter.png" alt="" width="45" height="45"/>

The href should be the url that the button opens to.

Img Title should be what you are linking to or what you want people to see when they hover over the button.

The src should be the url that links to your uploaded image

5. Save to see it displayed on your page!

6. Now do this for each of your social media buttons by copying the code to the next line in the same widget and updating the information accordingly.

Do your social media buttons open in a new window?