Give us this day our daily bread...

I don't know what's wrong with me at the moment. Creatively I am in a major slump, and as for the weekly tasks, I can't muster up the energy or the enthusiasm for them. Everything seems to be a slog, something to struggle through rather than something I am supposed to be enjoying. Struggle through I have done, and I do have things to put on here this week.

This box was from The Works. I started by adding some paper clay moulds - flowers, leaves and a label. Once that was dry I thought it was too plain, so I die cut some leaves out of cardboard for the top, and some butterflies for the sides (mainly because the leaves were really hard to cut!) Once I had attached those I coated the whole box in black gesso, then washed it in chalk paint (which has separated a bit, but it added to the effect.) I then added some burnt umber stain (sorry I have forgotten what it's called but it's that one that you put on, wipe off the excess then seal with a varnish) I left the inside black as I felt it didn't need anything.

Progress on the stitch, and you can finally get an idea of what it is supposed to be! Progress is still frustratingly slow, but that could be because of how I am feeling at the moment.

flour, yeast and proofing

eat fresh out of the oven

slathered in butter

So this week's thing was making bread. I will admit I cheated a little bit with this one, although technically I never specified I would make one from scratch. I just wanted to make some bread, without using a breadmaker, but to pound out my frustrations while kneading dough. So I used a kit. Unfortunately, my mood was more apathetic than frustrated so it didn't really work well, but it tasted nice at least.

One thing that I didn't take into account was the fact the halogen oven we have does not evenly cook things, so I had to turn it over and cook it on the underside afterwards, meaning it was a little crispier than I would have liked.

Confession: I had a couple of weekly tasks in reserve in case of things that I could not do/changed my mind about. Two of these are coming up - one of each. One was simply because of transport issues, one I am replacing with something I hope will be more productive for me. Don't judge - sometimes we change our mind, and this has already been a big year for me.

Ems

Comments

What to do when you hit a wall?

Sorry guys, this is gonna be another pic-lite one. This is for two reasons. The first is because I decided to be a complete idiot the other day and crack my head open on the door at work, so I have to take things easy for a couple of days. The second is strange. I woke up the other day and it was as if someone had flipped a switch. All of the self-confidence that I had built up through my crafting over the last year has disappeared - just like that. I've spent the large majority of my life thinking that I am not good enough; in what I do, what I say, in short, in who I am. With crafts I was finally starting to believe in myself. So it is very hard at the moment, as I feel that I am right back at square one. I am hoping that this is temporary, and that I will soon feel myself again. I have to remind myself that I am very early in my crafting journey, and there are bound to be bumps along the way. I am aware that it is probably linked to my current state of high anxiety, as susta

Altering again!

My craft mojo came back! I decided to treat myself the other day to a new paper pad, and chose G45 Steampunk Spells. Graphic 45 papers are expensive but boy are they worth it! I wish I'd got into them sooner as there are some older pads that are gorgeous, but unavailable now. Anyway, once I got the pad and overcame the urge to just admire the paper and do nothing with it, I got to work. I decided to try to make something to enter into a couple of challenges, namely the Craft room something old, something new challenge and That's Crafty! Girl power challenge . The first thing to do was to decide what to make. I was going to do a card, but then I found this: This was a cutlery drawer that a friend gave me. To be honest I have been using it to store sharpies in, but no more. Here it is now: What a change! I started by painting it in black acrylic, then got to work on each section. I used the Clockworks paper for the background, cut out some clocks fro

If you leave me now...

A colleague left this week, ready to start her police office training, so I made a funny card for her. I found the definition on Pinterest, then decided to do my own line up for the inside. I've also been working on the stitch. Here's the update. Not as much done this week cos of Christmas. Until next year, Ems

The Introverted Crafter

Search This Blog