1. tumblingblocks 2. suikerwijzer.nl 3.boolahbaguette 4. brienne_moody 

There were a ton of submissions this month for the creativity club challenge: visible mending. I love a challenge that is both creative and useful. It seems you do too!

I picked a few I really loved. That cat with a backpack is killing me!! Do go see them all, though. They can be found under the hashtag  #thecreativityclub on instagram. If you’re not on instagram, you can see the tagged photos on the elsie marley facebook page (in the instagram app on the right).

1. stars 2. stripes 

Here are my submissions. These are both for my youngest, but the mending pile is large (and keeps growing) so everyone is getting patches soon. I just need their pants to hold out until I can cut them off and make shorts.

When I re-started The Creativity Club at the beginning of the year, I wanted to explore big ideas I thought artists should explore: form, inspiration, perception, light. I wanted to get to the ideas behind the making of things. But unfortunately I don’t know what the hell I’m talking about. I am no art teacher. I know very little about the ideas behind art. The last art class I took was in high school for crying out loud.

My list of challenge ideas were at best difficult, but mostly just muddied and off putting. I needed to stop being so serious! Besides, for me it is through the making of things that the big ideas come about. The other way is too hard. So with that in mind, I threw that list away and started a new one. [this is the only thing I have on the list so far, so if you have any creativity club ideas please comment!]

THE CHALLENGE:

1. Mend something! Make the mending visible.

THE SMALL PRINT

This is pretty self explanatory, I think. There is some article of clothing in your house that has a hole in it. Fix it, but don’t hide the fixing. Here are some ideas to get you started:

1. patch up your woolies 2. elbow patch 3. creative mending 4. visible mending as art form 5. sashiko tutorial 6. how to patch a hole with crochet

YOU HAVE ONE WEEK FOR THIS CHALLENGE

That means next Monday, March 23. Tag your work with #thecreativityclub so we can see it. This should be fun!

It is almost spring, at least the forsythia thinks so. The weather man seems to think there is a winter storm in the works.

Either way, it’s a new month with a new batch of sponsors! Wouldn’t you like to be one? Sponsorship on elsie marley is only $25/month. I keep it small and affordable, so indie shops and little blogs can easily do it. You don’t need to be a professonal blogger (whatever that is!) to have a sponsor spot. Maybe you just want to get your blog out there and grow your readership a bit. With 50,000 unique visitors a month there will be plenty of people headed your way. I would love to introduce your shop or blog to elsie marley readers. Drop me a quick line at

elsiemarleyblog@gmail.com

and we can talk about sponsorship and the weather!