Creative Inspiration Archives

‘A Starry Night’ in yarn

By Christina Lee| April 18th, 2021|Creative Inspiration, Humbling Hobbies and Habits, Punch Needle, Yarn Addict|

One of my favorite museums to visit was the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. I traveled there on a solo trip a few years back and this was one of the things you must do when you’re in Amsterdam.

Walking through the museum was like seeing the pages of your history book come to life. Well, it was better than that, but you know what I mean. His self-portrait, The Yellow House, The Bedroom, Sunflowers, and Irises were a few that I enjoyed. Of course my all-time favorites, The Cafe Terrace on the Place du Forum and A Starry Night were at a different location, but nonetheless, it was there in spirit.

It also inspired me to work on “A Starry Night” with the one thing I love: yarn. I found this starter kit on Etsy that came with just about everything you need to make this piece: punch needle, hoop, monk cloth, and a set of soft wooly yarn including shiny royal blue to make the village scenes pop.

This was indeed a fun piece to work on especially since I hear there is now an Immersive Van Gogh exhibit in San Francisco. The digital experience features some of his most iconic paintings across 300,000 cubic feet of space where you can lose yourself in an array of color, texture and light.

I can’t wait to check it out!

Because this is how we roll

By Christina Lee| February 18th, 2021|Creative Inspiration, Humbling Hobbies and Habits, In the Kitchen, Learning from the best, Oh My Crafts!|

It’s been nearly a year since we’ve been working remotely and zoom fatigue is at an all-time high as we continue to buckle down on work and hang tight hoping the tides will change this year. Increased levels of productivity and stress call for a much needed time out and a chance to come together as a team to reset.

Our manager suggested a virtual team building activity — one where we can sculpt and make something out of clay or one where we can fill our bellies with chocolate goodness — and the scale tipped at chocolate making (which was almost a no brainer!).

We each got a kit from Tiny B Chocolate where we got to learn Brigadeiro Basics, Brazil’s most loved dessert and cousin of the chocolate truffle. The kit came with three jars of brigadeiro, eight toppings and a jar of spread along with plates, spoons and everything you need to get started on becoming a chocolatier.

Making these brigadeiro chocolates couldn’t be any easier than 1-2-3. You scoop out the chocolate and roll it into a ball, dunk it in your favorite topping, and set it aside or put it into your mouth. There is no need for baking. What’s great about this virtual team building activity is you get to make gourmet Brazilian chocolates and bond with your team without any “whoopsies”. And best of all, you create photo-worthy creations that are yet to impress your friends and family. What a fun way to break away from the office.

One line a day journal: year two

By Christina Lee| January 1st, 2021|Creative Inspiration, Humbling Hobbies and Habits|

While many of us couldn’t wait to kick 2020 to the curb, there was still plenty of good that came from such a tumultuous year. From the pandemic to racial injustice, social strife and political upheavals that claimed to overtake our lives, came strength, fortitude, patience and empathy. Acts of kindness — small and large — filled our hearts and opened up our eyes to what could be a better tomorrow if we all pulled together. And these are the things worth writing down, recording and remembering.

This past year, we all got a lot of time to ourselves and learned to be comfortable with solitude. And with this time came the ability to focus on finding ourselves, looking inward and taking care of our own mental and physical wellbeing.

In doing so, I learned to disconnect, take longer walks, appreciate my neighborhood and find gratitude in people, nature and my surroundings. There were so many instances where I took all of this for granted and didn’t open my eyes up to the true nature of life and all of its beauty. With so much devastation, hurt and loss, I want to make a commitment to finding and practicing gratitude on a daily basis. I want to live in the moment, smile more and appreciate the very things life is offering me. I want to overcome the challenges that come my way and live up to the values that make me who I am. I want to make memories worth keeping and recording. Here’s to year two and life lessons worth remembering.

Hot Cocoa in my Cooper cup

By Christina Lee| December 1st, 2020|Creative Inspiration, DIY Home, Holiday Fun, Humbling Hobbies and Habits, In the Kitchen, Oh My Crafts!|

With Thanksgiving out of the way, it’s officially Christmas season every single day of this month. Christmas music on KOIT 96.5, living fireplace (with the Christmas tree), warm scones and hot cocoa in my official Cooper cup.

Earlier this year, Cooper and I decided to make these photo cups as gifts to the family in honor of his tenth birthday. Each mug has a photo of Cooper as a puppy and a more recent one throughout the year, paired with a family photo. Of course the red and green ones have a special holiday family photo with Cooper. It’s especially difficult to get Cooper to look at the camera if we are all in the photo, but sometimes the photographer just has that magic touch. Regardless, I love that we have Cooper cups for every season, but the Christmas ones just seem more magical.

Well, now that I have my hot cocoa in my Cooper cup in hand, it’s onto holiday cards.

Floating Vases

By Christina Lee| November 12th, 2020|Creative Inspiration, DIY Home|

As the seasons come and go, so do the flowers in your home. I can’t remember the last time I replaced the flowers in my bathroom, but it’s time to lean into the Fall season and fill the room with luscious Fall colors. I headed over to Michaels to peruse the Flower aisle, and a sea of forest green and nutty brown pigments caught my attention. And what looked like freshly cut succulents with its purple tips would be perfect to make my floating vases pop. Sitting in a bed of moss greens, oatmeal and century old rice (I got creative with the food in my pantry!), these earth-toned succulents were exactly what I needed to breathe life into my living space.

Virtual Team Building: Terrarium Making Kits

By Christina Lee| September 29th, 2020|Craft Day, Creative Inspiration, Humbling Hobbies and Habits, Oh My Crafts!|

With over six months of shelter-in-place orders in effect, the Covid-19 pandemic has taken both an emotional and physical toll on our well-being. The extreme work-from-home measure has left us craving human connection, mental sanity and work/life balance. While we aren’t able to get together as a team, we try to keep things normal — even if it means doing our team offsite virtually through Zoom.

Over the last two days, we blocked off a total of six hours (three hours per day) on the calendar and did what we could to connect as a team. Introductions, planning sessions, work break-out sessions, guest speakers, and of course, ice breakers made up the two day agenda. Never had I imagined the possibility of conducting these team activities online. But we did and it was fun.

One of our team activities came in a box which contained everything you need to build your own terrarium. A glass bowl, soil, moss, charcoal, rocks, succulents and even trinkets like sea shells, glass jars, and dinosaurs came in this terrarium kit that my manager found online at Etsy.

We emptied all of that good stuff out of the box and began building it together. Does the soil go in first or the rocks? What do you do with the moss, and does it go above or below the soil? How do you insert the succulents? While everything came packaged up nicely, by the time we poured out all the contents, the table was covered in dirt and my hands were black.

It was fun talking through the process and interesting to see the unique spin that each of us took designing the terrarium with the exact same kit. I now have faith that we can have fun and do great things as a team even if it is online.

Now, to find a home for this little guy.

Little red rose

By Christina Lee| July 11th, 2020|Craft Day, Craft Paper Scissors, Creative Inspiration, Oh My Crafts!|

Handmade, homegrown or store bought? You tell me.

With my mom’s retirement and the pandemic keeping us mostly confined to our homes, we all have to find ways to motivate ourselves, cheer each other up and lift our spirits. For me, I tend to lose myself in yarn projects, soap-making and other DIY home decor projects. Since the SIP, I’ve made my first pair of slipper socks, explored punch needle embroidery and now, I’m crocheting a scrap blanket. I love that you can do so much with just one hook and a ball of yarn.

For my mom, she never really took much interest in these hobbies or any others. She just admired them from the sidelines and encouraged me to do what I love. It was only until she cleaned the garage and found stacks of paper and excess supplies that my sister and I left behind that she found her passion.

It started with one petal, then two petals and three, and then it transformed into this paper rose. In making this rose, my mom found a hobby, something that she’s passionate and proud of. Something that makes her smile. Something that brings her to life.

My mom found herself.

One Line a Day Journal

By Christina Lee| April 16th, 2020|Creative Inspiration, Humbling Hobbies and Habits|

One line a day, that’s all it really takes, right? With the new year and the new decade, I decided to have another go at the One Line a Day Journal. The last time I did this (a few years back), I successfully committed to it for four years (at the end of each week or month) and then called it quits. I. Was. So. Close. But as the saying goes, “It’s going to be different this time around.”

Little did I know when I started this journal (in February!) that we were about to undergo a global health crisis — a pandemic — and the world was going to change forever.

It’s now been about five weeks of self-isolation and quarantine. With non-essential shops and businesses still closed, schools moving to online learning, park and recreation operations shut down, many of us have found some creative ways to cope with the situation and remain balanced. Sometimes it’s easy to keep your spirits up by finding various ways to brew a cup of coffee and move yourself from the bedroom to the living room. Other times, you trip over your laundry basket or a ball of yarn in the hallway. Some days you decide to be super productive and clean the bedroom, vacuum the floors, scrub the bathtub and bleach the tiles. Other days, you just want to throw in the towel, like on the couch, eat a tub of ice cream and watch bad tv. However you deal with this new normal, remember to always get up and try.

Every day can be a new high or a new low. You decide. For those of us who are lucky enough to be bored, go find yourself a new hobby. Make a digital photo album of that trip you took last year. Borrow a book from your local e-library. Get a little more creative cooking that next meal of yours. Do something.

We don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but we can look at tomorrow with hope for brighter and more colorful days ahead.

Stay home. Stay safe. Stay well.

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