Wear Something Gaudy Day

On October 17, don’t wear your usual colors or style.  Instead go gaudy. After all it is Wear Something Gaudy Day.

Gaudy usually means bright and flashy and maybe tasteless and tacky.  Now gaudy is also one of those terms that is in the eye of the beholder.  I have a flamingo blouse that I love to wear.  I think it is wonderful and makes me smile.  My mother might have thought it was gaudy.

So on this day; get a bit more colorful in your dress.  Wear a neon color (even if it is just a handkerchief in your breast pocket).  Or maybe buy yourself some wild socks.  It is OK to gaudy in secret if it could cause problems at work. 

Wear something that sparkles and glitters.  Add some bling to your clothes like some rhinestones.   Or try one of those pins that have fake diamonds in it or are just big and bright.

Whatever you and those around you might think is outrageous, wear it.  Maybe make a pact with those you work with to all dress gaudy so no one will stand out and everyone will have a good laugh about it.

Whatever you do, do it gaudily. But most of all have fun.

©2018 Cheryl Fillion

I Love Pumpkins

 I  saw pumpkins at the grocery this week and couldn’t resist reposting the blog.  I can’t help it.  I love pumpkins.


I think my favorite fall icon/symbol/item is the pumpkin.  My Thanksgiving table always has a pumpkin pie.  I roast the pumpkin seeds from my Jack O’Lanterns.  And even though there are no children in my household, Halloween wouldn’t be Halloween without a carved pumpkin.

pumpkin seeds

Jack O'Lantern

And of course I make lots of pumpkin quilts, coasters, needle felted ones.  If it has a pumpkin on it, I am probably going to try and make it.

Last year I had a blog post entitled Spool Knitted Pumpkin  which showed how to make a spool knitted pumpkin coaster.  Check it out if you like to spool knit. (Spool knitted pumpkin)  And I bet crocheters could figure out how to make something similar.

Spool knitted pumpkin

I have also used pumpkins with the kids crafts I do at the farmers market.  I traced a pumpkin cookie cutter onto card stock and let the kids decorate it with orange pompoms.  (Check out the blog post: Cookie Cutters Aren’t Just For Cookies )    

pompom pumpkin

Lately I have been making needle felted pumpkins.  Using cookie cutters as a form, I have made some ornaments for Halloween and Thanksgiving. How to do this is in the blog post Needle Felting in a Cookie Cutter.  Just switch out a pumpkin cookie cutter for the bunny. 



Needlefelted pumpkin

I haven't even mentioned pumpkin pies or pumpkin bread or pumpkin soup.  What can I say I LOVE pumpkins.

© 2017, 2018 Cheryl Fillion

Fabric stuffed pumpkins



Creativity in a Coffee Shop

Recently I went to a coffee shop for a political candidate meet and greet.  This coffee shop has been around for years but since I am neither a coffee or tea drinker, I never found the need to go.  I even had to look online as to where it actually was. which it turned out not far from my home.

I was intrigued with the art work on the wall, much of it for sale.  The little tables and chairs were individually painted (my favorite chair had jigsaw puzzle fabric on the seat and the back and the legs were colorfully painted to match the fabric). 

I did learn that they also sell Italian sodas which is carbonated water with flavored syrups (and I was promised had only a small amount of sugar in them)  I love Italian sodas but don’t always find them.  They remind me of the Shirley Temple drinks I would get as a kid at family weddings.

When I got home that night and thought about the sodas and artwork, I wondered if that was a place to go to when I just wanted to get out of the house.  I am the type who is more likely to try something new if I find it is good for me (It is similar to when I don’t feel good.  I am more likely to slow down if I am running a fever with my sniffly nose than if I am just sneezing.  It could just be allergies but with a fever, I am sick).

So I looked up the benefits of going to a coffee shop.  What I found was that a visit to a coffee shop can actually increase your creativity particularly if you are doing something while there.  That is why you see a lot of students finishing their term papers there.  It’s not the coffee (although I am sure the caffeine helps a bit) or the people you might be with; it is the noise.

Solitude and quiet are helpful for some things that need concentration like doing those dreaded taxes.  But the noise of a busy coffee shop (or even your TV) is just right for creativity.  On the opposite end of the noise scale having a blender running or a garbage deposal is too loud and too distracting.  It is that sweet spot in between silence and NOISE that helps bring out creativity.

Not all creativity would work in a coffee shop.  As a quilter, I couldn’t set up my cutting board and rotary cutter and sewing machine.  But as a needle felter, I could bring my wool and needle.  It would work great for writers or people who create art on their computer.  Maybe sketching out a plan for a quilt would work great at a coffee shop.  Doing something that does not take a lot of space or make a lot of mess would work.

Even just people watching could inspire a story or an art piece.  Looking at what people wear could give ideas for a sweater, a shirt or a color combination.  Listening to what others at another table are talking about could bring in new ideas.

Sometimes just getting out of the house or the studio helps refresh those brain cells to look at something a little different.  Plus if you get a coffee or an Italian soda or a pastry, you are supporting a local business (and with the pastry a baker who are also artists).

So check out a local coffee shop or meeting place and see what is happening. You might see something new, hear something interesting and increase your creativity.  And, of course, taste something wonderful.  If nothing else, your taste buds will be happy.

©2018 Cheryl Fillion

Beginnings

It was two years ago this month that I started this blog.  I thought I would celebrate by reposting the blog post that started it all.  It was a nice reminder of how I got started.

I have come across two philosophers in my life who have the best advice ever for people exploring their creativity.  The first was a German poet and scientist by the name of Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe who wrote "Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it." (That quote gives me goosebumps.)

The second philosopher was my nephew, Alex, at the age of five who, when I asked him how we were to make a housecleaning robot he wanted to give his father for Christmas, very blunted told me that "You just do it, Auntie Cheryl." 

Both wise men had a point.  If there is something you want to do, you will never know whether you can do it until you begin it.  Is there some creative technique you want to try but are afraid to?  Just dive in.

Now it is okay to start at the shallow end (sorry, it is hot outside and water metaphors seem cooling to me somehow right now.).  Dip your toes in.  Paint a page of just one color. One color can express any emotion. Write one line to start a poem.  One line can say a lot (Alex had a lot to say with his one line and it has stuck with me for 23 years.)  Sing one note.  A continuous note can be very relaxing to the diaphragm.

Just begin it. Don't jump from the high dive. Don't plan a gallery show yet.  Don't figure out your office at the Library of Congress for when you are considered the next Poet Laureate.  And the Grammy nominations are already made for this year.  So relax.  All you are doing is beginning.

And beginnings are wonderful.  There is mystery in them - you aren't quite sure what will happen next.   And there is an adventure in them - traveling to a new area of your heart.   And the excitement of them - you actually did whatever it is you were wanting to begin.

You have had beginnings all of your life.  You survived all of those  - school, college, work, marriage, family.  You can survive this one.  But you have to just begin. As Alex said, "You just do it, Auntie Cheryl."  Who can argue with that?

© 2016, 2018 – Cheryl Fillion