greeting cards – Jen Nipps Online

Other Creative Work

I talk about writing often enough here that you might wonder if I do any other creative work. I do.

I knit, crochet, make jewelry, do handlettering, and make greeting cards. I primarily crochet, though.

I love shawls and scarves. I’ve recently made an infinity scarf and a cowl for Christmas gifts. I’m working on one that’s called a “Dragon Belly Shawl.” It’s gorgeous! After it’s done, I’m going to make a pair of dragon-scale fingerless gloves/mitts.

I do offer things for sale, but most of what I make is gifted to different people for different reasons.

Recently, I’ve had to slow down. I’ve developed tendonitis and it’s taking forever to get well, even with a brace and exercises. (Yes, I even type with the brace on.)

Get Busy Already!

Crayons scattered on white paper The procrastination game has been strong today. I have indulged in it instead of fighting it and getting things done. On one hand, that’s not a problem unless it becomes a habit. On the other hand, it’s a consistent habit and I need to break it.

I did pretty good with things on the writing front this week. Here’s a round-up of my creative life this week.

Ultimate Blog Challenge: This is day 7. When I post this, I will have officially made it a full week.
RealmWalker: I have added a chapter and a half and 5,042 words this week.
#100DaysProject: I decided writing every day would be my project. That seems good since I’m wanting to finish RealmWalker this month and I have another novel (young adult along the lines of Nancy Drew) that needs to be finished, too. It started Tuesday so this is just day 5 and so far I’m 5 for 5.
Greeting cards: Yes, I make greeting cards. I got started when I went to a stamping group about six months ago. I love it! Initially, I didn’t want to get involved in anything else since I have so much going anyway, but I was given a LOT of stamps and ink pads, so I thought I’d look into it. The group gets together the first Thursday of the month at the scrapbooking store downtown. I love it.
Yarn stuff: At the beginning of the week, I was between projects. I like to have something going that I can do while I watch TV. I also like to have something at hand that I can do while I think about what’s next in what I’m writing. For TV-watching, it can be a complicated pattern. For thinking-while-writing, it has to be pretty mindless, otherwise, I’m thinking about the pattern and not the writing. Anyway, I started a new shawl yesterday. It was far too complicated. I’ll still finish it, but I think I’m going to have to crochet along with the videos provided. So I started another shawl this morning. This one is easy and works up pretty fast. It’s the perfect thinking-while-writing project.

That sums up my week. How was yours?

I’m going to post this and get to work on RealmWalker, even if it is late. (With that nap I took this afternoon/evening, I should be good for a while.)

See? I even used this blog post as a procrastination tool. Get busy already, Jen!

Happy creating.

What’s This All About?

Close-up of a small flower in black & white. — (c) 2017 Jen Nipps

I know it’s fairly easy to guess if you’ve been around here much. I also know that there are a lot of new people here. (I’m up to over 100 people following my blog! Thank you!)

I talk a lot about creativity here. My creativity. Your creativity. The creative process in general. I try to offer creativity tips and exercises every so often. I talk about my creativity theories and what I consider to be the keys to creativity.

That’s pretty much it in a nutshell.

I am willing to answer questions, share videos, offer guest blog spots (although at this time, I cannot pay for such posts – I’m so sorry), share photos (with permission and credit given), and share podcasts and other things I find interesting and relevant.

I don’t want to leave you just with that, so here’s a little bit more. These are my Six Keys to Creativity, given without further comment or explanation.

Everyone is creative.
Creativity does not discriminate.
People don’t know how to tap into their creativity.
People use their creativity without knowing they are.
The only person who says you can’t is you.
Have more than one creative outlet.

I’ve posted about these before, which is one reason why I’m not posting an explanation of them right now. I will most likely talk about them again, so stay tuned for that.

It’s been a busy day of errands, writing (over 22,000 words now on REALMWALKER that I shared chapter 1 from the other day), and a stamping/card-making group. I didn’t want to put this post off until tomorrow, so here it is, albeit late.

Happy creating.