Welcome to Chrissie’s world of Ink, Illustration, Calligraphy and Papercraft

How does the saying go? “Better late than never”.. Well, after taking nearly a year, my website is finally ready to go. It’s taken me some time to settle upon what I wanted my website to represent and how it should roll, and that’s because I’m trying to craft something that you guys what to see. My hearts desire is to see you guys be be blessed by my website and it’s content, I want you to be able to leave my page being inspired and glad of heart.  But it’s not going to be for everyone…

So who am I?

In 2013 I started repetitive drawing therapy to help aid the healing of symptoms associated with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and in doing so, I unlocked a passion. It was like I had found what I was put on earth for. As I went deeper and deeper into the world of pen and ink new doors would open, doors to illustration, doors to calligraphy, doors to lettering and papercraft. And I’ve been walking through those doors ever since, with the same enthusiasm and eagerness to learn. The latest door to open is the door to blogging.

This is my second attempt at this blogging door though. The first was using the Blogger platform with Google and right from the start, it felt like I’d made a mistake in choosing that platform. It was clunky (what a tech term that is) and it integrated with the G+ social media app (which has never taken hold like Instagram or Facebook). Adding to my woes, Google stopped updating the Blogger App, so making posts on the go became all but impossible. My second attempt is with WordPress, it’s where I should have gone initially. It’s smooth, streamlined and simple, my kinda app for blogging.

I’m no stranger to the world of computing. I have been in Local Government for many years now, it’s where I head to everyday to make some money to support this wonderful crafting habit I have. At my core though, is a love of my Creator and his ability to manifest the beautiful through craftsmanship. I carry a deep longing to honour and remember the work of my forefathers in penmanship and lettering. I am fascinated with symmetry, patterns and colour and I adore attention to detail as I believe it calls you to explore a piece of art more intensely. These are my creative foundations and it’s important to me that I reflect them in all that I create.

Why am I blogging?

Better still, let’s ask why you should come to my blog? Have you ever baked a cake or a batch of biscuits and accidentally left out an ingredient, like sugar or salt etc? The cake or biscuits just don’t taste the same, and you end up with a product that’s not quite right.

I see the creative influences in my life a bit like that. The work I produce is a reflection of the influences in my environment and I need every one of them to produce work that’s right and pleasing to your eyes. My creative environment though is different from your environment, and it’s different from Dawn Nicole‘s environment,  and it’s different from Minnie Small‘s environment, for example.  So my cake is going to taste different to your cake, but both of our cakes are good!  And even though we have separate creative environments, I want my blog to be the place that brings our environments together.

I plan on sharing about the creative influences in my environment, and I plan on hearing about yours.  Together, we will have an opportunity to bounce ideas and techniques of each other, and talk about new products that are out there to bolster our creativity. 

I have a skeleton of a blogging schedule developed and at this stage, I hope to be blogging once a week with “quality” content.  One of my initial goals will be to increase the frequency of my blog posts, so that I’m producing more content more often.  Watch this space!

Many of us are mums, employees and crafters, so our time is precious.  We don’t have access to all the latest products and tools, but what we do have is a love of art and craft and a desire to see people preference handmade over mass production.  Psalm 90:17 says “May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us– yes, establish the work of our hands.”    I love the thought of God’s favor resting on us and establishing the work of our hands.  Let’s encourage each other, build each other up  and share with each other as we do this creative life together as Expressive’s.

Want to be more Expressive?

Join my Expressive’s List to begin to learn ways you can start to express yourself creatively. There are no moulds or limits with the Lord, just possibilities and the promise of one day unearthing who you were created to be.

Expressive Subscribers receive an email each month that contains creative inspiration and ideas, links to helpful resources and a month’s worth of journal prompts to stimulate creative expression. These prompts are a great way of learning to express yourself when you’ve never really tried it before. Fill in your details below to sign up.

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Until next time, listen to your heart and sharpen your coloured pencils. A masterpiece awaits!

Bless you my friend

Chrissie xx