Keeping Creative!

Ok, I'm gonna forget the essay-writing for the moment. Lately I've been really trying to keep myself busy and creative, something that can come quite naturally when you're inspired, but that can be a bit harder when you're not. Luckily I've been quite inspired by the time of year - my first creative venture is Christmas cards. Why don't I ever make them? Well, for the past six years I've been in college and up the walls with assignments. But finally I'm finished college, and because I'm woefully unemployed, I have plenty of time to get cracking. I had considered doing a selection of hand-made cards - you can buy multi-packs of just balck bits of card and envelopes. But then I decided to go bigger - and more costly - than that. I'm actually going to get my designs professionally printed! And I don't mean just printed and then I bring the images home and stick them onto bits of card - I mean professional cards, envelopes and cellophane wrapping - the whole shibang!

So I started looking into it, and I found a great Irish company that will do just that for me. I'm currently waiting to get a sample of the quality of card in the post before I send off my designs and commit to the project, but this website is inspiring nonetheless.

http://artcardsireland.com/cards/

Because I come from a graphic design background, this site really appeals to me. Also, I'm really interested in supporting Irish businesses at the moment, and it's really great to see an Irish company creating cards that are so beautiful and unique. So, I'm hoping to get my own selection of Christmas cards printed by that company...Will upload my initial image ideas soon! :)

Moving on from this, Halloween is also around the corner! I adore dressing up - I think most artistic people enjoy it. This year, I'm aiming to dress up as...The Mad Hatter. Now, haivng no money I needed to get something that would work with what I already have in my wardrobe. The Mad Hatter idea is perfect: I have the basic outfit: purple dress, black blazer, tights and boots, as well as gloves. All I needed was the hat - which I got in Claire's Accessories for only 8.95 or something. So then comes the creative bit -the hat came with a little lace and a little skull on it already (http://www.claires.com/store/goods/Teens/cat650043/Ghoul's-Best-Friend/p94854eu/Skull-Crossed-Hat-Headband/), but I wanted to make it stand out a bit. So, I got to work adding some lace, playing cards, ribbon, feathers and buttons, and simple as that, my Halloween outfit is sorted!

And speaking of trying to keep inspired and creative and all that - I've had some pretty cool artists recommended to me by family and friends lately, and I have to say, that seeing another artist's work is definitely one of the best ways to become inspired and to want to work on your own stuff. My brother recommended Ruben Ireland (featured below): his stuff is fantastic,and really appeals to me because I really love portraiture and faces.