The Lil Journal Project - Inspiring Creativity One Day at a Time!

I'm always looking for new ways to get inspired and recently one of my favorite blogs "Lil Blue Boo" began a series on journaling called "The Lil Journal Project". 

I used to keep a journal as a young girl, so I was immediately intrigued and was excited to get started after reading her post! 

Ashley provides daily prompts to help you along in your journaling adventure.

This is something I need desperately.

I've always wanted to start keeping a journal again and in the past have attempted to.
Mostly these journals were very boring and certainly not fun for anyone to read or look at!

The type of journal featured on Ashley's blog is a more creative type journal, in the sense that it not only contains writings and musings, but artistic things as well...such as drawing, painting, epherma, photos etc.

The thing I love most about it is...ANYTHING GOES!

It's your journal, your way.

I haven't been great about keeping up with every prompt every day, but I've done as much as I can and am enjoying it thoroughly!

It's such a great idea to get your creativity flowing especially if you're like me and you have trouble in that area.

Here is a peek inside my journal so far:

I am a very embarrassed to show you some of my artwork...for example...this big FAIL from yesterday's prompt:

I debated heavily with myself on whether to even include it in this post...but decided I should, since it is the point of the whole thing...just be yourself and let your creativity flow, even if it's not perfect (or even NEAR it! LOL!)

Here is another drawing "fail" that was from the prompt on day #7 "My Life in Cars":

I did this drawing on my iPad using an app called "Doodle Buddy".
I LOVE using that app and "pretending" I can draw! 

Obviously, I did not "complete" the "My Life in Cars" section yet...I've had WAY more than 3 cars in my 50+ years of life, but since it's such a struggle for me to draw...It might take me awhile to get to all of them. 

As you can see...I certainly am not very good at drawing or painting but as the first journal prompt and entry shows, I am imperfect and perfect at the same time...just as my journal is!

I need to let go of the idea of perfection...it is something that has held me back for years, especially when it comes to being creative.  

So many times I have begun a project just to be disillusioned because I feel like it's not good and no one will like it. 

I am my own worst critic! 

I know what everyone says about negativity and I have fought my whole life with it but it's always been part of me as I was raised with a father who demanded perfection of those around him. 

I never quite felt like I measured up to his standards but that's a post for a whole other blog!

(I just thought it might help to give a bit of the background on my history and why I'm so negative sometimes about my own creative abilities.)

In addition to that almost impossible standard...my Grandmother (my Father's Mother) was a very accomplished artist and I sometimes felt like I fell so short of her talents, even though I admired her and always hoped that I had inherited some of her artistic abilities.

She was mostly a painter and her favorite mediums were watercolor and oils.

Here are a few examples of her artwork:

I'm hoping by doing this journal, I will be more open to just "create" and not worry if it's wrong or right or if anyone will like it. 

I think it will help me a lot...it's great therapy!

If your like me and struggle to know where to start or what to journal about, then Ashley's "The Lil Journal Project" would be perfect for you to follow!

Check it out and join me on a new creative journey!

Carnival Dresses for My Grandgirls

Since DH bought me a new sewing machine, I’ve been trying to sew a lot more and recently I had the opportunity to actually make good on a Pinterest inspiration I told my DIL I would try to re-create for her girls (My Grandgirls, B & C!)

Sweet Little “C” had her first Birthday coming up and DIL “K” told me that she was doing a Vintage Carnival/Circus theme.

I was perusing Pinterest one late night…(Who am I kidding? I peruse Pinterest EVERY night…and day for that matter!) and I came across this adorable dress made by Ashley Hackshaw from Lil Blue Boo. 

(Note to Pinterest Users: This Photo is the property of Ashley Hackshaw at www.lilblueboo.com
 and is used here only for  reference purposes.
If you decide to "Pin" this photo,
please be sure to go to Ashley's blog and pin it from there:
 http://www.lilblueboo.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/party-dress.jpg)

I knew “K” would love it, so I pinned it to my sewing board and tagged her in the pin so she’d see it.

She really fell in love with the dress, as did I, so I told her that I would try my best to re-create it, but that I was sure my sewing skills were not up to the level  of Ashley’s!

Fortunately, Ashley sells the pattern for the skirt portion of the dress and has a tutorial on how to add the tank top and underskirt to make the finished product.
(*Update: 4/18/18 - The pattern is now sold here on Ashley's Etsy Store.)

I purchased the pattern from Ashley and was lucky enough to find the vintage crazy eights cards on ETSY and purchased those also.

I had a hard time tracking down the adorable fabric she used though, so I e-mailed her and found out it was called “To the Zoo” and she had purchased it from a store in North Carolina, called Mary Jo’s.

I found their website and called them, as I did not find the fabric on their site.

They were kind enough to search for me and finally came up with 3-5/8 yards remnant. 

I was so relieved, as I had searched “High and Low” on the internet and in stores to find that fabric or something remotely similar to no avail.

Most of the carnival/circus fabric I found was brightly colored and “K” wanted the vintage look, with the more muted colors.

I pretty much tried to re-create the dress exactly as it was on the Lil Blue Boo blog, with the exception of adding Pom-Pom fringe to the bottom of the top skirts. 

The fabric I used for the underskirt was slightly different than what Ashley used, but it was a close as I could come to it. 

I found this fabric at: Hancock Fabrics

The plain white tank tops were purchased at Dharma Trading Co., but I know that WalMart usually carries a very similar tank top to this one also, because I bought one to make a “test” dress before I made the real thing. (That’s how paranoid I was that the dresses wouldn’t turn out!) (LOL!)

I scanned the crazy eight cards I needed for the shirts and then printed them out on SuperSoft Inkjet Transfer Paper from Dharma Trading Co. and applied them to the shirts following the included instructions. 

The day before the birthday party, I did a fitting on the girls, and here is a photo of “B” modeling her dress: 

At this point, the dress was pretty much done with the exception of the bow embellishments.

“B”s dress fit perfectly, but I had to take the shirt up a bit on “C”s as the tanks were long bodied and even though I trimmed them before sewing them to the skirt, Claire’s had to be trimmed a second time and re-sewn.

Here are the finished dresses:

The girls really loved them and so did “K”!

(“B” really liked that the skirt “twirled”!)

That made me happy and I learned a lot by tackling this project, because it was a bit out of my league, but I know the more I sew, the better I will get at it.

Here are some cute photos from the Birthday Party where the girls proudly displayed their new dresses from Gigi Lisa: 

So many thanks to Ashley at Lil Blue Boo for the awesome inspiration!

And…thanks to Pinterest, because without it, I may have never found Ashley and her really neat blog!

Go check it out if you get a chance, www.lilblueboo.com not only are her projects inspiring, SHE is one of the most inspiring persons I’ve ever seen and she will enlighten you and brighten your day for sure!

Just a quick note about the project: If you decide to try it, be sure to go to Ashley’s blog and follow her tutorial and pattern instructions carefully, as she has more detailed info on this project than I have and she was very patient with me when I had a few questions during the process of making these dresses.

I hope one day to be able to do detailed sewing tutorials of my own, but I am not quite there yet in expertise and Ashley is really good at it!

Take Care Crafty Friends and thank-you for joining me today!

P.S. I have linked-up this project to the following sites:

Free Pretty Things for You - Whatever-You-Want Wednesday #73
Sara Hamer Designs (Pink Cricut) - Link-up Tuesday
Crafty Texas Girls - Cowgirl Up! - Creative Link Party