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I brake for inspiration.

Do you ever sit in front of an empty canvas or computer screen or journal page and find that nothing will flow? That's a good sign that it's time to brake for inspiration.

That was me a couple of weeks ago. I grabbed the essentials - my hubby and my camera - and off we went for a stroll. It certainly helped that we happened to be in beautiful San Antonio for a long weekend.

Here are some of the results ...

cypress tree roots that look like a mob of meerkats ...

flower photos with a nice bokeh (blurred background) effect ...

a Riverwalk cascade ...

and one of me - taken by my DH - getting my creative batteries recharged.

Yup, I brake for Inspiration.

What do you do when the ideas won't flow?

We have some new projects on site as usual. Plus you’ll find lots of other projects to inspire you in our Craft Ideas Section.

We’re in the planning stage of launching a Members Gallery where you’ll be able to showcase and share your original projects - or your take on one of ours. I can’t wait to get this started and see what you all have been up to ;-)

Please read on for all the fun details.

Eileen

New Projects Added Last Month

Quick Fuse Fabric Decorated Tote Bag - Create a unique tote bag for your hobby or message using iron on fabric sheets.

Felt Box Catch-All - Make several of these boxes to organize your odds and ends.

Zutter Bind-It-All Travel Art Journal - Learn how easy it is to bind professional-looking books with the Zutter Bind-It-All.

Country Critter Wall Plaque - Instructions for a rustic-looking wall plaque using pre-cut wooden animals.

Heat Resistant Coatings for Decoupage - Are there coatings that will stand up to hot pots? When looking for special materials, sometimes you have to think outside the - craft room.

Yikes - I Can’t Doodle!

I won this darling doodle by June Crawford at her blog, A Creative Dream. I just love it!

The swirls are so smoothly drawn and move the eye around the scene. The shapes are suggestive and open to interpretation. The color scheme and balance are very appealing.

I want to mount and hang it; so I went looking for a frame. I found the perfect one at Michael’s. It’s a hanging collage frame that you can slip a whole bunch of small images into and change them out from time to time.

After I found the frame, I also picked up some watercolor pencils and drawing paper – thinking I could use June’s doodles, perhaps some photos and then a few doodles of my own to fill all the slots.

That’s my first heavy handed attempt at doodling below. Yikes! I Can Draw but I can’t doodle!!

I got carried away and didn’t leave any white space. My shapes are too representational. It’s not well balanced and my swirls are abominable.

Honestly, I think Miss SmArty could have done better.

Doodling should be easy, right? Doodling is something to do to while the time away and engage one’s creative right brain.

I guess I have trouble staying in my right mind. Lol.

How about you:

Do you doodle?

Does drawing zentangles put you in a Zen state?

If you’d like to share some samples for our Flickr page (under construction), please attach your images and send by reply mail. If you have a blog or website include your URL so that we can link back to you.

Reader Letter of the Month: Can You Use Mod Podge on Plastic?

Thanks for a great site.

Please can you tell me if I can use Mod Podge on a plastic bottle to decoupage it?

Thanks,

Karen

Yes - with one caveat.

Mod Podge is formulated to decoupage any porous material onto almost any surface (porous or not). So if the ephemera you want to decoupage onto a plastic bottle are of a porous type (paper, fabric, etc.) you should have no problem.

Any non-porous items (such as glass beads or plastic buttons) should be glued on using a multipurpose adhesive like E6000. You can apply Mod Podge over the whole bottle once the multipurpose glue has cured.

One other thing to note: if the bottle is thin plastic (like a soda bottle), it could easily be crushed by an admirer who picks up your work of art too roughly. This of course could cause all your hard work to crack and peel off.

Thank you for the compliment. I’m glad you find The Artful Crafter helpful.