Inspired by | Volume 3 – 2018: Taking Time Out

Hi there! It’s the 10th… And I have the March instalment of the ‘new’ Inspired by for you!

It doesn’t seem like February was a very inspiring month.

Perhaps it’s because I felt a bit under the weather and that resulted in me working extra hard on some days and then having even lower energy levels on other days.

This has inspired me to think about better ways to deal with my time. I’ve started to look more closely at where I spend my time, and I want to get better at batching chores and get more of a routine going.

I did manage to do a couple of things to fill my inspiration bucket though!

Ecoline

I attended a class about Ecoline at the Royal Talens Experience Centre.

Which immediately prompted me to create swatches of all the liquid watercolours I have in my stash, but… I didn’t finish the piece I started in class, and I didn’t practise any further either.

And I need practice because my watercolour skills are still limited. So yesterday, in an attempt to clear my head for a bit, I finally gave it another try.

The paper they gave us to use in the class was far more forgiving than my Moleskine watercolour journal. Better quality, a lot smoother and of course it was taped to a board to prevent the paper from buckling.

Anyway: It didn’t go well. Which is OK. I was practising after all!

But I also wanted to show it here. So, in the end, I decided to admit my defeat (for now) and called coloured pencils and felt tip (brush) pens to the rescue.

Antwerp

[vimeo 259406830]I also visited Antwerp.

Antwerp is a familiar place. I know my way around, and I always find something to photograph.

We mostly just wander with no end goal in sight.

That’s fine because we’ve been there many times before and we know we will be back again. There is no need for haste to see the sights.

Sure, there are some we haven’t seen yet. But there is always next time!

Vacation photos

I revisited vacation photos and let them inspire me to create my last project for the n*Studio Creative Squad.

Needlework

And maybe you remember that I told you last month that I was interested in fabric printing and stitching?

In the end, all I needed was right under my nose!

There is a book on my bookshelf on needlework that I’ve used for at least three decades to figure out how to knit, crochet, macramé and embroider.

No idea why I thought I had to look for inspiration elsewhere. And I’m super happy with the result!

You can watch my video tutorial for Gelli Arts® here: Create a Fabric Book with the Gelli Arts® Patch Printing Kit

That’s a wrap!
That’s it for this month’s Inspired by!

Don’t forget to stop by Riikka’s blog Paperiliitin to see what she was dying to create in the past month.

Inspired by is a blog series by my friend Riikka and I.

On the 10th of each month, we share what inspired us that month with you and each other.

It can be anything from a person, a film, a book, a painting, to an item, something found in nature or in the city, a colour scheme or some materials we bought or discovered.

We will also share how the source of inspiration affects our work. Consider it a window into our creative minds!