It seems to me that if you are really someone who loves to decorate that your own home is the first blank canvas you'd choose. Through several moves, apartments, the college and grad school lifestyles and now in my home, I've honed my decorating skills. Given that I paint, sew, build, organize, cook, bake, and do my own landscaping, I have always found the problems and challenges with any space quite invigorating. It forces one to think differently and if you can't find furniture or decor off the shelf to work in the space, you create your own! And if you do it well these become trends. I have been often imitated by friends and family and I find that very flattering.
The photos in this blog are of my own home--I've sewn all my own curtains and pillows and all the artwork and decor is handmade by me. I love color and texture and glass jars, books and old suitcases and ribbons and buttons-- you'll see all of that reflected in the pictures.
Now, the only problem I have is that my brilliant decorating skills aren't really seen by the rest of the world so I'm not certain how far reaching my brilliance is! I entertain but not everyone I have to my home really gets that it's brilliant :) I say brilliance with a wink--I'm not really that vain!
I get the magazines--I understand what's cool and why it is so. I've actually opened a magazine to find something similiar to what I created 5 years earlier. They say true artists aren't really appreciated in their own time--I take comfort in this :)
Decorating for me isn't about status, keeping up with any trends (me trendy? HA) or trying to impress anyone. For me, a beautiful home is about bringing order and calm, inspiring myself in my next great adventure, about being a happy and well adjusted person, and making a place that people want to come to and sit a spell. Beauty is all around us--God invented the concept with sunsets and flowers and the rushing waters--nature is God's canvas. I feel my home is my canvas and that I am called to create beautiful things and spaces as a testament to His creativity.
I've blogged about creativity before as it's a passion of mine but I've never really expressed in writing why its important to me. The first verb in the Old Testatment is the word created--" In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Therefore, God is the author of creativity, the first artist, the only truly original anything. I see my own creativity as God working in me. And as I seek to honor my Father, I am passionate about creating, the creative process and the sharing of creativity. I'm encouraged by other artists, intrigued by materials, curious about how others work and always fascinated by finished products. I am driven in this regard. I don't just go shopping, I research. I don't browse products, I read labels, ask others lots of questions, research EVERYTHING and experiment. A lot! My love of creativity in fact makes me creative in its pursuit.
I grew up very aware of right and wrong and rules. Unfortunately in elementary school I was scolded for coloring outside the lines and I had my hair pulled by a teacher for taking too long on an art project. I didn't realize til much later how this stifled my creativity. I felt for years there was "a way" to do things and because I didn't know it I shouldn't even ponder it. I didn't know that I had such a natural, God-given instinct to be creative and I stuffed it for a number of years or dabbled safely in familiar realms.
Well in the last 10 years I have made up for it and there are very few mediums in which I don't work. Life is a great big canvas and I wake up every day anxious to be about creative things. And I am extremely thankful for such a drive. I'm thankful for the new found freedom to experiment, analyze and learn about the creative process. My inspirations are found in the very creations of our creator--nature, the human body, sound, the elements, smells--all the mark of a very creative God.
Don't let anyone box in your creative spirit--try it, do it, live it and push away the voices which seek to limit your creativity.
DO IT: Have you always longed to try something creative but were afraid or hindered in some way? Seek out someone that could answer your questions, guide you or encourage you to give it a whirl--who knows what creative spirit lies within you!
Have a blessed and creative day,
Susan
www.etsy.com/shop/Pinoodles
It seems to me that if you are really someone who loves to decorate that your own home is the first blank canvas you'd choose. Through several moves, apartments, the college and grad school lifestyles and now in my home, I've honed my decorating skills. Given that I paint, sew, build, organize, cook, bake, and do my own landscaping, I have always found the problems and challenges with any space quite invigorating. It forces one to think differently and if you can't find furniture or decor off the shelf to work in the space, you create your own! And if you do it well these become trends. I have been often imitated by friends and family and I find that very flattering.
Now, the only problem I have is that my brilliant decorating skills aren't really seen by the rest of the world so I'm not certain how far reaching my brilliance is! I entertain but not everyone I have to my home really gets that it's brilliant :) I say brilliance with a wink--I'm not really that vain! 
