Playing With the RevGals and Showing Off

As found on the RevGals website: During Lent here at Suburban Presbyterian Church, we are exploring the creative and liturgical arts, with classes and speakers dealing with storytelling, iconography, dance, visual art, writing, and so on. The theme is "A Beautiful Thing," inspired by the story of the woman anointing Jesus and his declaration that "She has done a beautiful thing for me." (Mark 14, NIV) We are working on the notion that everything we do can be considered a beautiful thing--a creative offering to God--whether it's gardening or scrapbooking or accounting or sorting clothes at the clothes closet or child-rearing.

1. Would you call yourself "creative"? Why or why not?

I consider myself to be creative but not artistic. I LOVE creating things. I see Rachel as the most artistic person I know. And OMG if you have not seen her Friday Cemetery blogging for this week you MUST. GO. NOW.!! You will see what I mean.

2. Share a creative or artistic pursuit you currently do that you'd like to develop further.

Sewing: I would love to learn how to put in zippers and buttons. I am still working on getting the baby blanket thing down.

Jewelry: I REALLY want to learn how to make my own glass beads!! I also would love to learn how to work with silver.

Paper: To get even more creative with my cards. Repeat after me....I am NOT a scrapbooker! *spits*

I would love to have a job where I could craft all day long.

3. Share a creative or artistic pursuit you have never done but would like to try.

I SO want to learn how to make the glass pendants from microscope slides.

4. Complete this sentence: "I am in awe of people who can knit and crochet." Me...I have not the patience.

5. Share about a person who has encouraged your creativity, who has "called you to your best self."

All the girls at work, babygator, teacher and my mom. They always let me show off and oooohhh and aaawwweeee over my stuff. Then they tell me how wonderful it is. Just makes my heart swell. We call it *Show and Tell* They are the pep squad of my life.

My grandmother on my mom's side sewed clothes for me growing up.

My grandmother and aunt on my daddy's side also sewed clothes, as well as other things. I will never in 100 years be able to match their talents. I wished that I had been wise enough as a child to have been taught their skills and to have appreciated them. I am coming to the sewing game really late!! I have baby clothes that were sewn for me. I also have quilts that my grandmother made for me. If there were ever a fire in my home, the quilts are getting saved.

And now for my show offy self....

This is what I made for a recent swap. The girls name begins with a H.

She also loves pin-up girls. I made her a box that I mod-podged pin-up girls on. I covered the outside rim of the box with a pale lavender boa to give it a girly girl look.

Then, I painted the inside of the box pink and centered a pin-up girl in the middle. I wrote a portion of a Maya Angelou poem *Phenomenal Woman*

~It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally~

And then added a card to the box for her.

*snickers* Now how is THAT for showing off!