Month: April 2014

What do you do when you have no stories to tell?

Well first of all – there are *always* stories to tell so you acknowledge that fact, and that it isn’t a lack of stories so much as a mental block holding you up. You may be able to envision stories in general but when you try to focus on one it might be troublesome or you can’t quite get into the details.

What should you not do? Freak out.

Remain Calm!

As far as I can tell based on many years of story telling plus many rounds of creative block of all kinds, it will come back. You can get your groove back if you simply do a few things:

1. Keep trying. It might be frustrating but keep seeking stories to tell and keep trying to say something – anything.
2. Embrace all forms. Write an email to a friend or family member, talk on the phone, have a conversation with someone or reminisce with someone.
3. Jot in a notebook or open up a word document and type. It can be nonsense or not in any way cohesive thought – just let whatever thoughts are in there in your mind out.

The one thing not to do, would be to put pressure on yourself. For all you know, it is pressure that got you stuck in the first place. Maybe you’ve been really busy or have a lot on your mind. Perhaps you are simply over thinking things.

Of all the years I know one thing. If you keep writing or story telling, and if you simply keep trying, you’ll break through the block. In fact – you may even come out the other side of a bad case of writer’s block with new skills, ideas, or otherwise generally improved!

This creative life we choose to lead is a journey, ever changing and evolving. It makes sense that at points of growth there will be struggles, and that at times some things that once came easy may get hard.

Whether you find yourself blocked up, just wanting to improve your story telling, or perhaps just evaluating if you’re as good at expressing yourself as you’d like to be there is one thing you can do: keep at it and enjoy.

Heck, if you’ve really got writer’s block issues you could write about having writer’s block and blog it…

This week the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge is all about a color: YELLOW. Hmmm… not my usual color but I feel like I could have some fun with this! Step #1 I embossed butterfly stamps in yellow and white onto a tag…

After this was done, I inked (scattered straw distress) the background then layered dies, color, and had BIG fun!

I used the new Simon Says Stamp butterfly stamps, die, and lemon ink pad on this project. They’re all Simon exclusives and can be found in the shop. The Simon site being new and everything means my usual pretty link-up isn’t working. So I’ll just mention that other supplies you might want are white and yellow embossing powder, rub-ons, and some scattered straw distress ink too.

I hope you enjoy my project – it was loads of fun to make and one of my favorites too.

From lemons to sunshine, straw to gold – let yellow inspire you this week and join in our challenge! Simon is, as always, offering a generous $50 voucher that will be randomly drawn from the eligible entries each week. Join the fun by creating a project this week – and for your chance to win a $50 voucher you should hop on over and join in the challenge here.

When the brain is busy. When the schedule is insane. When there is simply too much.

Just sit down for a minute and play. Layer up some stamps. Flick some mist. Just enjoy a moment and regroup. Have a bit of fun. Think about good things and count blessings while you cut loose.

It does wonders for the soul.

This week over at Simon Says Stamp there is loads going on – they’ve redone their website (sweet new look!) and we’ve got a new challenge too. This week is all about ‘big stamp’ and today my post is up with a project tutorial that is ALSO a ‘May vs Stash’ win! Simon is, as always, offering a generous $50 voucher that will be randomly drawn from the eligible entries each week. Join the fun by creating a project this week – and for your chance to win a $50 voucher you should hop on over and join in the challenge here.

Next up – the winner of Tim Holtz mini distress sets + a spot in my next on-line class is:

Stephanie Rodgers (4/15 @ 704am comment)

Congrats!! Email me (mflaum@comcast.net) to claim your prizes! Also winning spots in my class are three more commenters:
Suzan Vonessen
Christy Q
Jackie QH

Now I’m off to finish some more projects for my upcoming class on Distress Ink (yay!!!) and have some spring break fun with the kiddos…