Like a soul mate, OOPS makes me a better person,  OOPS brings me joy, OOPS helps me face the challenges of creating. Okay, that sounds a bit like the Hallmark Channel…but it is true.

What would I be like if I never found OOPS? I shudder to think of such a thing because I remember how hard it was to play back then plus all the stress and frustration I used to feel about making mistakes.

What is an Oops? It’s an Outstanding Opportunity Presenting Suddenly. Saying such a silly word helped me shake off the seriousness of “failure” and embrace the possibilities all while having fun playing.

Here are a few of my videos where you can see the OOPS in action and how I handle it and as you watch, imagine how it would have turned out differently if I had let myself see it as a mistake instead of an OOPS.

Watch Pattern Making Inspired by the Everyday on YouTube.

I couldn’t always easily embrace mistakes as opportunities.  You’ve probably heard inspirational quotes like, “when one door closes another one opens” or “inside every problem lies an opportunity”.

When I had just screwed something up, made a mistake, or “ruined” it, those quotes didn’t help me one bit.  In fact, I found them to be intensely infuriating!

But saying OOPS kept me from taking it all too seriously.  After all, were lives hanging in the balance when I went too far on this cardboard?

Watch  Oops…What I Did When I Went Too Far on YouTube.

The less seriously I took those mess ups and screw ups, the more I was able to play and feel the intoxicating freedom of play.  Using up old rub ons in my journal brought me joy -just playing even if things did not go “perfectly”, after all it was just an OOPS.

Watch How to use old rub ons in art journal tutorial on YouTube.

Next time you are playing, if you feel you made a mistake, give OOPS a try. Next week, I’ll have a new video for you, loaded with OOPSies, for another Let’s Play post!

Want to see more Let’s Play videos? You can find all the weekly posts here.

What is Let’s Play? It’s all about rediscovering the ability to play and each month I share a specific strategy that helped me recapture the freedom and fun of play. You can see more of the Let’s Play series here. Be sure to get entered in the $50 Dick Blick giveaway by leaving a comment below.

Sharing your play:   I, and a whole bunch of others, would love to see what you’re creating!  We’re sharing it in the Facebook group called A Colorful Place to Play. Why Facebook?  I’ve listened to your feedback about how and where you’d like to share your play instead of the link parties.

Monthly giveaways:  Leave comment on any (and all for more chances) of the weekly Let’s Play blog posts to be entered and one winner each month will be chosen by random.org.  Want more chances to win a $50 gift certificate to DickBlick.com?  Pin any of the images from the page or share about it on Facebook- then come back and leave a comment telling me what you did and you can have more chances to win! Giveaway closes the Sunday, December 28th at 11 pm EST and the winner will announced on the blog.

Congrats to Jodi, last month’s winner!

How do I add a playful creative touch to gift giving when time is limited and I can’t make a masterpiece?  I alter the wrapping paper.  I found these very affordable (97 cents a roll at WalMart) wrapping papers that had patterns ready for transforming into mixed media wrapping using art journaling techniques.

As the rush of the holidays descends on me, playing on the wrapping paper helps keep me sane and as a bonus I get my gifts wrapped!

Watch How I altered cheap wrapping paper mixed media style on YouTube.

Doodling with careful precision and attention to detail can create amazing patterns.  This isn’t that kind of doodling. This is fun, fast, and playful doodling right on the wrapped gift.  A handmade touch but only a few minutes to do. And a bonus mini video from Instagram!

A video posted by Carolyn Dube (@carolyn_dube) on Dec 8, 2016 at 1:57pm PST

A bit of color was added to the santa’s on this paper using fineliners filled with acrylic ink.  Be sure to check out the video and see what happened as I filled the bottles! O.O.P.S.!

At first, just a little color was added and it wasn’t nearly enough so a second round of color was added with even more loose sketchy lines around the jolly men.

The bold pattern of ho ho ho’s have a touch more personality and fun when sketchy lines are traced around the letters. Nothing precise or in the lines, just loose and free.

Next time you are wrapping a gift, take a look at your stash of wrapping paper and see how you can add a mixed media touch to it!

Here are the supplies I used. Some of these links are affiliate links which means I get a small percentage. It doesn’t cost you anything extra and you are helping me keep this blog and my videos ad free! Thank you- I don’t like ads any more than you do!

InLinkz.com