The Fulcrum of Inspiration – Crafting Her Heart!

February 6, 2016 / Penny L Howe / 7 Comments

Fulcrum: (noun) The support about which something turns. One that supplies capability for action.

She’d long since decided she was better alone

she felt that somehow it was wise,

Although longing for love that was missing

It stayed absent in any guise.

But when ent’ring her fulcrum of crafting

Inspiration soared forth from her dreams

unrequited love quite forgotten

As she crafted her heart to well-being.

“Life, a never-ending gift – express yours today!” ~ Plh

♡

Happy Weekend! A great time to use your imagination and dream, wonder, create, inspire … enjoy!

With affection,

~ Penny

Mortar and pestle – Mental tools for the creative mind.

May 7, 2013May 7, 2013 / Penny L Howe / 26 Comments

Mortar: A bowl made of a very hard substance. Pestle: A club shaped object used for crushing and grinding. So why my interest in the mortar and pestle of things? Let me explain.

Today the mortar and pestle can be found in many kitchens. Its use for the grinding of small food items (herbs, etc.) needing to be crushed (the results enhance the flavor of food being prepared). The mortar and pestle is also used in pharmacies (grinding pills permits quicker absorption of consumed medicine), in scientific laboratories, and in the processing of various materials during the building of structures.

If you consider these two objects as tools used by us (humans), you will notice the one thing each ‘use’ has in common is the primary purpose of changing the texture of a substance into one that becomes more pliable/versatile. This, in turn, allows for a greater infusion of the various elements when mixed together. The results open up possibilities. Creating a fresh variety of essences and nuances as well as capabilities of a new formula/mixture.

My question for you today. How’s your creativity doing? Is your mental mortar and pestal handy when it comes to repurposing your thoughts, your ideas … your imagination? Have fun with being creative – mix and match, stir and blend, grind and crush, rethink and then … create!

Have an excellent week, thanks for stopping by,

Penny,

Thinking inside out of the Box!

November 15, 2012 / Penny L Howe / 27 Comments

The Cereal Box Doll Bed™

So once upon a time there was a person (me) who noticed that all little girls everywhere had fashion type dolls of a certain size ( a very famous fashion doll), a little bit less than a foot in length (.305 meters). There were/are all sorts of plastic accessories that a person could buy for these dolls but this person (me) noticed that mostly the dolls ended up in the toy box.

Being imaginative this person (okay so you know who it is now lol) decided to come up with an idea for a doll bed that any child with the help of a parent could make (from throw away things found around the house) and then have fun using the bed to play with her fashion dolls.

It took quite awhile for this person to figure out what materials to use and then write directions and create both patterns and a template for the bed, but she did. The frame for the bed takes about an hour to construct.

The Cereal Box Doll Bed™

It is made from 2 cereal boxes, cut and folded in a certain way and then secured with tape and covered with cloth. All the items used to make the Cereal Box Doll Bed™ can be found around most houses everywhere.

The bedding can be leftover cloth material or cut from recycled clothing. The bedspread in the first photo was made using yarn, for most women this is also found around the house. Then came simple and quick ways to make some other pieces of furniture from throw away empty containers (the chair is from a 2 liter bottle – takes about 30 minutes to make).

So what happened to these ideas? As what seems to happen to many of her ideas, life intruded so she put the idea, the template and the instructions away for another time. Perhaps someday…

Thanks for stopping by, remember creativity is always at hand to brighten your day,

~ Penny

Copyright © 2012 by Penny l Howe

For those who Blog – Crafting your own Style

September 20, 2012 / Penny L Howe / 55 Comments

Style ~ A Flow of Movement

Internationally known Bruce Lee became an iconic individual, famous for his stylized version/philosophy of Martial Arts (Jeet Kune Do), his executed flow of movement.

He believed that by “combining” the various elements of ‘martial arts’ you become the best fighter because you can adapt to any style – not following or focusing on any preconceived system of style.

Dana White UFC President called Lee the ‘father of MMA’ saying “if you looked at the way Bruce Lee trained, the way he thought, and the many things he wrote he said the perfect style is no set style – you take a little something from everything, the good things from each discipline, use what works, and let everything else go.

From early on I was fascinated by Bruce Lee, who in addition to being a Master Martial Artist was extremely intelligent and well versed in the disciplines of his art. His belief was to use different “tools” for different situations, changing techniques but allowing a smooth flow between. A style within a style.

He wrote of his stye as that of being the ‘Art of expressing your body’. He believed – a good martial artist should be like water and move fluidly without hesitation, changing with an internal flow as required!

And so it should be for all of us artistic souls (those who write, craft, paint, photograph, etc. – all form of creative expressions). Is your flow or movement your own? Create a style within a style – your own. Begin this today!

My Style … My flow

Thanks for the drop by, Hope this day is yours to embrace, take care of you my friends, Penny

Loopweaving

July 25, 2012February 25, 2014 / Penny L Howe / 57 Comments

Hi everyone, just when you think you’re beginning to figure me out I introduce something else new into the mix. But that’s me.

Colors fascinate me. All colors. Shapes of things fascinate me also. And then you have the patterns within the shapes. I’m guessing the reason nature is so infinitely beautiful to me is that it is such a myriad of colors, shapes and patterns all blended in a seemingly never-ending variety of things that become beautiful in their appearing simplicity.

Now there’s a thought, complex simplicity. Nature at it’s finest. Every outdoor photographer understands this. Every artist that’s every put paint to a canvas, pencil to a paper, digital imagery to a screen and so forth. We get it. It really is about all those, colors and shapes that fascinate.

One day I picked up yarn and without really knowing what I was doing I began to play around. Using one or more strands of yarn of varying colors and texture using only the hook that is normally used for crocheting I began to (for want of a better word) weave, single loops inside of other single loops, something simple but lovely. The first pattern was simple swirls.

And then I discovered I could actually weave different patterns with the loops depending on were I pulled the yarn through the next loop.

Okay, So now I’m really beginning to have fun here. After I realized by lessening the number of loops I could create sides I was really excited. From then on my creative nature really took over.

On and off in my spare time I crafted a variety of containers. One thing led to another and after a few years of crafting in my spare time mostly, I came up with something I call loopweaving. The photo’s you are viewing are a few of my creations. I hope you enjoy them.