It’s the Random Album Cover Game! A great exercise in creativity.

This requires three random things. But wait, here’s what you’re supposed to do (I promise I didn’t cheat on mine):

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random The first article on this page is your band name. (If it’s a real band or musician, you might want to cheat and hit refresh.)
2. http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3 Scroll down - the last four words of the last article are the title of your album.
3. http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/ Whatever the third picture is - that’s the album cover.
   

Now, put it all together in your favorite image editing program(s)… It’s fun!
It wasn’t my idea - see this site, and this one. And - I just LOVE the photo by Elif Karakoc. See more of her work on Flickr and DeviantArt.

Since it’s hard to read in the small image above, here’s what it says.. Band: Erattupetta; Album: feeling of inner peace. If any of you try it, please let me know! I would love to see what you come up with.

Another bit of Random

A week or so ago, another friend tagged me. But, really, I like this one better. It is simple. All you have to do is list 7 random things about yourself, and tag/link to 7 more people. So, here goes (trying not to repeat what I put before):

1. I love blackberry cobbler and almond Italian sodas (mentioned the marzipan before!)
2. I don’t like to spend a lot of money or time when shopping for clothing, but I don’t mind spending some money on a good pair of shoes, especially if I love them - and I am PICKY about that.
3. I’ve taken piano, violin and guitar lessons, and don’t play any of them well.  (Just bought a piano - trying to learn)
4. Someday I want to be a painter, and show my work in a gallery - it’s never too late
5. I really dislike carpet in my house.  I would rather have wood, stone or tile with a few rugs.
6. I sewed a wedding dress once - and it turned out pretty good too.
7. I hiked the Grand Canyon. (=pain)

I’m tagging you:  Amanda, Kim H., Carol, Octavia, Tangie, Cathy B., Nicole B. - now don’t groan.  It’s just random fun.

Creativity Question:   Do you meticulously plan out your creative projects, or do you allow a little bit of “random” in there to spice it up?  Or maybe you work purely intuitively?  For me, it’s probably a mix of both.  Sometimes the best discoveries are the ones I wasn’t planning for.

I hope everyone had happy holidays. We were very busy there for a couple of weeks, so it’s been nice to have a little break. Ok - as promised, I’m posting photos of the salt dough ornament project. I haven’t made salt dough ornaments since I was a little kid, so it was fun to do with my own children.

Photo number one (I am only posting the ones I made) shows the ornaments after baking. Click here for the recipe. I used cookie cutters for the star and bird shapes and a knife for the other shapes. Then, I used a toothpick to make the designs and the holes for the wire.

This is a detail shot of the star ornament.

Finally, after they cooled, I painted them with acrylic craft paint and added the wire to hold everything together. I didn’t varnish them, although it’s recommended in order to make it last longer - I was in a hurry (as usual).

All in all, I am happy with the way they turned out - who knew that salt, flour and water could be so much fun?

Creativity Question: Do you ever get tired of being creative?

Sounds like a silly question, but in my opinion, creativity requires quite a lot of energy - mental energy included. And, as much as I love being in the middle of a creative project, sometimes I just have to take a break, get some fresh air, let the project sit for a while and recover some creative energy. This is especially true if I get “stuck” on a design project. Taking a break from trying too hard works nearly every time.