Out On A Whim Wednesday: Pumpkins & Paper Bags

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  You Just Need To Provide The Fertile Soil

Would you believe me if I told you we did not plant the pumpkin vine that you see taking over our yard in this photo?  Well, we didn't.  We did our usual when we prepared the bed for planting this year - spread our compost into the bed and covered the bed with straw and let it settle.  Then we planted tomatoes and peppers, some eggplant and a few beans.  And next thing we knew, a vine showed up from the dirt.  At first we thought it might be a zucchini, but then, as it grew, it looked less and less like a zucchini.  So, out of curiosity, we decided to let it keep growing...and grow it did!  Until it turned into the crazy pumpkin vine that is taking over our yard!  We have already picked one pumpkin from the vine and it looks like we will have at least 4 others.

We don't remember eating any pumpkins last year, so we aren't sure how the seeds ended up in our compost or our garden bed.  It's a great reminder for me though.  A reminder that you don't have to plant the seed - you just need to provide the fertile soil.  The same seems to be true about creating.  When you sit down to create, you don't need to come with an idea or a picture of what it is that you want to make.  You just need to sit down, surround yourself with your version of fertile soil - maybe that is a small space with a few art supplies; maybe a special candle that gets lit or a certain piece of music that soothes your creative muse.  Whatever it is, you just need to provide the fertile soil.  What is meant to then grow, will grow :)

 My friend and her husband and two little girls came for a visit last weekend.  Their daughters are 2 1/2 and 4 years old and I wanted to be sure to have a craft project for them to work on.  So I decided to sew together a few paper bags to create paper bag books for them to decorate.  I provided markers, stickers, fun foam pieces, glue and die cuts.  I even brought out the Big Shot and they LOVED turning the handle and making flowers appear :)  The older daughter even used the die cut "waste" as a stencil and colored in the flower shape with a marker.  It was so much fun to watch them create without any sense of judgement.  They absolutely inspired me! :)