Days 6 & 7: Revisiting old negatives

We took these pictures earlier this year using some "mistery film" we got gifted. The thing with this film is that you can get lucky and get a great roll that produces great pictures and scans really easy, or get a roll that is a pain in the butt to scan/develop, like the ones these negatives are from. Day six is taken with a Vivitar Ultra Wide and Slim somewhere around Wrigleyville and day seven was taken in the Chicago Cultural Center with our beloved Olympus OM-1 and a 28mm lens, also Vivitar.

Day 3,4,5: Weekend Projects

I have been wanting to paint walls for the last 3 months. As I mentioned in a post earlier this week (here), I have a problem making decisions about what color I want to paint. There are just way too many options!

That said, I am proud of myself. Yesterday pm and I made a trip to the home improvement store. My goal was at least to buy paint for our bedroom (that color selection was easy). I also wanted to see if I could finally make a decision on the accent wall in the kitchen along with the colors for our hallway. Mission accomplished. Dreamy caramel won.

There is something about painting for me that is both relaxing and very gratifying. pm wanted to hire painters, I refused. While I admit I do not particularly like the "prep work", I do very much enjoy changing the look and vibe of a room paint stroke after paint stroke. I will also admit that I get a little too excited about painting at times. For example, waking up in the morning and immediately (before coffee folks, before coffee) doing the trim and touch-up work.

End result: A much brighter kitchen. This color really brings out the yellows in the stained glass window parallel to this wall. A photo of that will follow shortly, once that wall is also painted.

Haikus from the weekend:

Day 3, Haiku: Shine Friday Night Lights | Down on the busy bustle | Until the sun rises

Day 4, Haiku: Don't know what to say now | Too many errands and such | Makes for a quick day

Day 2: Simplify

We recently started thinking about how to pare down the number of items/belongings we own and have collected over the years. Since moving into our own place, I have been surprised by how many boxes we keep uncovering of things we have forgotten we had.

Spring cleaning has come late for us. We did do a good cleaning out of the closets and storage room within the last month, but it has proven to not be enough. While we do have the space to keep things, I've recently been inspired to adopt more minimalist habits. (Part of this admittedly is from pouring over design magazine and furniture catalogues where all photographs depict clean, almost zenful, rooms.)

The time has come for us to practice feng shui (or pseudo feng shui to start). In order for our creative wheels to get a moving, we needed to clean up our act while also making our sleep environment more organized and inviting. First step: night stand. (Click here to see how our paint job made your average Ikea Rast nightstand stand out).

We wanted for our night stand to have the essentials -- water, light, alarm clock, kleenex--, but to also have some other points of interest -- reading materials, decorate vase. This weekend we plan to slowly begin mapping out a way to minimize clutter and create more crisp, clean areas room by room. If we've learned anything about living spaces it's that having a small space filled with items not only makes cleaning even more of a chore, but it also doesn't give you extra space for impromptu projects and creative endeavors. Time to simplify, then time to create.

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Haiku, Day 2: Simple Life

Warm breeze, sweet lemonade

Rocking chair slowly back and forth

No worries, only calm

Day 1: Create

The journey begins. In thinking of what would be the best way to kick start the next 30 days of uninterrupted creativity (minus for working & sleeping), we decided to roll back the hands of time. We're not going too far back, just one year ago today when we participated in our first round of 30 Days of Creativity.

We're changed up our medium some this year. Rather than household items to write out C-R-E-A-T-E, but opted for a more natural route this year. The background is the same, the letters are not. You'll have to let us know which one you like best. Here's the link to last year's creation

The glory of the use of spring foliage is that on my walk home from work I got to feel like a child. I was scanning the ground for the signs of summer on the way in the form of plant letters. It would have been an interesting sight to see me searching for plants and randomly stopping and starting to gather more.

Moral of Day 1: Creativity is simple, you just need the idea to start it off.

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Haiku, Day 1: June Arrives

June bugs, blossoms and sun

Light the corners of my bedroom

Easy rise, easy go.

+My side project during this month is to write a haiku a day. I'll post to our Twitter feed (@ampmcrafts) daily.