Finding Creativity Everywhere

I have had so much fun over the past few months looking around with new eyes to find creativity in the lives of the people I have interacted with. 

Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in my own creative projects, or focus on the fabulous art I see online in the blogs I enjoy.  But I have begun to really appreciate the creative spirit that characterizes so many of my friends and family members, as well.

I wanted to share some examples of the creativity I have noticed since making a point to look for it.  Finding these examples has clearly demonstrated to me that creativity can make its appearance in crafts, home decorating, gift giving, and artful gatherings.

• One friend created an interesting entrance to her home by arranging a screen and some other decorative elements just inside the front door in her living room. 
• Another friend created a clever holder for her daughter's many hair clips and bows, and then helped me create one for my girls during a fun "crafternoon" playdate.

• My husband's aunt decorated her home for Christmas with Santas and nativity scenes she had crafted in dough over the years, and proudly shared painted wooden ornaments she had made in years past.
• My sister created art for the wall above her twin boys' cribs just before they were born (which is now a year ago this month!).

• A fellow member of my MOPS group (a Christian moms' organization) took time to create lovely packaging for our table treat, with a hand-created gift tag.
• My mother has made beautiful cross-stitched Christmas stockings for every member of my family, and they look gorgeous hanging together across the mantle.

• A friend from church put together a festive holiday gathering with food and activities to keep everyone eating and having fun, whether they were 4 years old or 40.

It has been so enriching over the past couple of months to view my friends, family, and activities through the lens of creativity...to appreciate how just about everyone I know either makes an effort or just very naturally incorporates creativity into their days. 

It makes me happy to feel well-accompanied on this creative journey!

I would challenge you to the rewarding task of seeing your friends and family members through the lens of creativity, so that you, too, can start to appreciate the creative spirit that brings energy and delight to our days!

Playing Tag

I don't remember where I first heard about Nathalie Kalbach's Creative Jump Start Summit, or when I signed up for it, but I'm sure glad that I did!

Nathalie has lined up a month's worth of artists and creative types to offer a daily video or blog post to offer creative encouragement to participants.  The inspiration is free, and sent directly to my email account each day.

On the first day, Dina Wakley encouraged us to pull out paints to just play around.  She suggested spritzing paint from bottles onto palette paper, and then using shipping tags to smudge the paint around and enjoy the results.

I've never used paint in a spray bottle before, so I just mixed acrylic paint with water in some spritzers I bought from the travel section of Target awhile back.  I think I got it a little thin, as it was hard to get bright colors on my tags, but overall I was happy with the result.  It set me off to spritzing through punchinella and onto bubble wrap.  It was definitely a Jump Start for me, and turned into a project in its own right.

I added stamped images to my tags, and then used white rub-ons to add subtly to the design.  Finally, I sorted through my envelope of clipped words from magazines and glued down some interesting phrases to finish up the tags.

I don't know what I will use them for--maybe for packages, swaps, or my art journal.  I just know that Dina's video made me pull my paints out again after a bit of a hiatus, and I had lots of fun!

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I was excited to find out from "Ceparie" at the Art of Collage that Jenny Doh shared my Paper Tape Silhouette Tutorial on her web site CrescenDoh yesterday, January 3.  Check out all the fun links and projects she provides each day! 

Things to Do in 2012

It wouldn't be the New Year without making some resolutions, now, would it?

Last year, I made many, many very specific monthly resolutions, and then promptly lost the little book where I had written them. 



Much more effective for me was the practice of choosing a word that expressed my intentions for the year.  In 2011, I chose the word BEGIN, and kept it at the forefront of my mind as I started maintaining my blog, keeping an art journal, participating online in swaps and courses, and preparing for my first craft show. 

For 2012, I have chosen the noun WINGS (after considering alternatives such as BLOOM and GROW) to suggest a movement forward from the beginnings I enjoyed last year. 

I also thought of some general goals for the year, and created a page in my new art journal (which I am maintaining at the same time as my Book of Days).

I am working on interesting lettering for my art journal and other art pieces, using The Scrapbooker's Handwriting Workshop by Crystal Jeffrey Rieger, a Christmas gift to me from my mother.

The font I've used here is called "French manicure," and I think it's pretty and fairly easy to create.  I also played around with the new Derwent Inktense Watercolor pencils that my mother also got me for Christmas.  Because of the thinness of my paper, and the collage I had glued to the back of this page, I didn't get the very best results that I know I'll be able to get eventually.

My 2012 "To Do" list:  Eat well, run often, pray always, create art regularly, occupy the moment fully, invest in friendships generously, read widely. 

What's on your list for this year?

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Karenann followed my airmail envelope jotter notebook tutorial and created her own notebook.  Check it out here.  It looks great!

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One of the great things about collaging is you can have piles of things scattered all around your workspace, and sometimes things just come together seemingly like magic.  A few weeks ago when I had all sorts of magazine words and phrases on my desktop, these three pieces fell together:

Great, isn't it?