On the Side

My all time favorite movie is When Harry Met Sally. If you are familiar with it, you might remember that Sally ordered meals with sauces and dressings "on the side". As Harry told her, "on the side is a big thing with you". Which leads me to this: I think that creative people have projects they do "on the side". Even for someone lucky enough to make a living from their creative talents, it seems like extra projects as gifts or just for personal enjoyment continue to be crafted. Some of the most fun projects can be ones where perfection doesn't matter.Which is great - it can bring you back to the core reasons of why you love creating in the first place.  It is liberating to just make something for fun and without worrying about how it will turn out. Not to mention you might learn a new skill or improve an existing one.

I saw this felt flower wreath on the Purl Bee blog and was instantly smitten. I thought my sister might like it since she is so into plants that she teaches horticulture for a living. Except this was in January and with snow coating her entire state up in Maine, it seemed like a more colorful version would suit her better, something to brighten her office as an antidote to the winter gloom. Five months later and my version turned out like this:

After I had cut out the flowers and was piecing them on, I started thinking a more refined color palette would have been nice. This has red, burgundy, white, two different yellows, three different purples, and a green background. If I was going to make another felt flower wreath, I would probably keep the green background and limit the flowers to shades of yellow and white. This project was a pleasure but it also gave me a chance to learn more about color theory. I started out as a use every color of crayon in the box person, but I think limiting the colors has a more pleasing effect. And Eric is helping me learn about triangulating colors and other important artistic principles.

Another project I'm keen on trying from the Purl Bee blog are these napkins. They would be a jolly good side project to help build my confidence on the sewing machine. I highly recommend checking out the Purl Bee for some inspiring ideas and projects on a variety of crafts.

So how about you - do you have any creative projects you enjoy on the side?