Classic Fail! Epic Save!

I'm creating some Christmas crafts (final part to be project next week).  Last week it was paper.  This week it was polymer clay stars. Both are parts of a bigger project.  Well, I thought I was going to use polymer clay stars.  That was until I started working with it.  Over the years, I've played with polymer clay.  I've made flat objects for theater projects.  They turned out okay.  For this project I wanted stars with some dimension.

Molds were called into action.  Polymer clay didn't want to go in to a mold, as least not the ones I had.  Well, it went in.  It didn't want to come out.   Darn!  My vision for these stars were not going to happen.  Enter the bag of paper mache stuff, called Sculptamold.   I bought this stuff years ago, used it with not much success.  It's a paper mache product that mixes with water, loves molds.  It can be painted, glittered and it will be wonderful on the project.
I like the side of me that is willing to fail in order to succeed.  I know I'm only talking about little Christmas stars on a craft project.  Yet there is something inside me that is never so "married" to an idea that it has go the way I have planned or I don't want to play.  I've relied on this flexibility in me to create some amazing things, including this blog and Campaign.  This mind set has aided me in creating what I think is an amazing life.  I'm never ready to just give up, until I know in my heart that I have looked at all the angles, I've explored every possible idea, I've tried everything to make something work.  I believe the open mind set and not being "married" to an idea and how it needs to go, is a corner stone to creativity.  It certainly makes my life flow with ease.
Being open to that there is a possibility of failure, this only allows us to succeed on a greater level than we could ever imagine.  I'm not saying to focus on failure and let it control you.  I'm saying give yourself permission to fail and not let the idea of failure stop you from creating what you want in you life.

Until next week...create to feel great!
6 projects complete...46 to go!

Next week...I put the last two projects together into one project!

Pyjama Day Play

"Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes.  Don't resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality.  Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like. ~ Lao-Tzu"

Okay Lao-Tzu, great zen master, you didn't have the week I had this week. Yet you are talking sense to me right now.   I'm going to confess, right here,on the Internet before God, and anyone else reading this...that the level of stress in my past week was way way off the chain.  It was a perfect storm of crap that swirled around me, as I have no idea why it was coming at me.  It culminated in me having a huge crying breakdown.   Had I seen Lao-Tzu's quote earlier, the breakdown might have been adverted. Some how I doubt it. Oh, well.  It really was what it was.  The details of this week aren't important, and I'm okay, now.   I learned an amazing amount of stuff about me this week. Strong and good useful stuff.  The sort of stuff that if I leverage it properly and put it into action, will benefit my life forever.  Being on the other side of  this stress storm, great things happen. From all this emotionally charged stress, how did I manage to get so much clarity?  I allowed myself to take a Pyjama Day.  I stepped out of the stress, donned my favorite P.J.s and spend the day doing whatever I wanted to at home.  I allowed myself to feel whatever. Which I have to confess, for most of the day, was great. I didn't focus on anything but the day.  I hung out with Gus and Mickeygirl (for whom every day is a pyjama Day), I cooked myself a nice healthy lunch, watched bad TV, read, napped and I made paper.  All in my pyjamas.  Along the way, I gained a sense of peace and those amazing insights.  Over the years, I've come to realize that pyjama days are vital to my health and well being.  Everyone could benefit from a Pyjama Day from time to time.  I have usually made it a habit to put  pyjama days in my life on a regular basis. Usually one or two a month.  It helps me weather stress storms that do come up in life. Most times I schedule them into my life.  Then there are the "emergency Pyjama Days" like the one this week.  I don't know what happened with this week, but I do know the PJ day helped me move on and stop the stress from coming back at me.
Making the paper in my PJs was the most fun.  Making paper is easy and quick and doesn't take a lot of thought.  I found a person on the Internet who suggested placing the wet paper on leftover flooring tiles to dry. (Not the ones installed on your floor, but the ones leftover from a home improvement project.)  That was a genius idea. I've always used towels and newspapers that get all sloppy wet.  I really got into the play of it all.   I had a vision of making paper on the Martha Stewart show, with both of us in our PJs. Oh, why not?  I was playing.  For me any project that involves glitter and color can't be all bad.
I went to sleep that night relaxed and peaceful.  Now I'm ready to embrace Lao-Tzu quote and go with the flow in my everyday life.  I can address stressful situations proactively and not reactively.  More going with the flow, as ideas come to me just how to do this with ease and no struggle.
Do you do pyjama days on a regular basis?  What do you do on those days?
If you don't do pyjama days.  My suggestion is to try it...you might like it.
Until next week...create to feel great.
5 projects complete. 47 to go.

For cool paper making instructions check out this site. http://www.funsci.com/fun3_en/paper/paper.htm
I will be using my paper on another project very soon...Stay tuned.

One Silly Project

What is it about women of a certain age that makes them want to use their bra as a storage unit or at the very least a purse?  The women in my family have been known to use their bras in this manner.  I remember Granny giving me money for the store, by pulling it out of her bra. When my mother traveled, she didn't believe in traveler's checks, so she carried her money in her bra, along with other items.   I don't get it.  My bra is full enough with the materials that are suspose to be in a bra.  I don't have room for money or extra items.
Whereas I don't get it.  It didn't surprise me when my co-worker was telling me that her 70 plus year old mother and her group of friends carry their cell phones in their bras.  I guess their pants don't have pockets, they can't be bothered with purses and fanny packs.  Her mother was visiting our office and she was complaining that the phone gets sweaty stored where it's stored.  One of her clever friends puts the phone in a baby sock before putting it in the bra.   These women store their cell phones on the side of their bras.  (I come a long line of front loaders).  Hearing the challenge of how to keep the cell phone sweat free, my mind started creating.  A simple pocket made out of a mirco fiber cloth from the Dollar Tree.  I added a velcro strap for security to the bra strap.  According to Kay, the problem was solved. The cell phone is stored, and not sweaty.  To answer her phone, she simply slides it out of the pocket.  The pocket stays in her bra. She is one happy lady.  All her friends want one or two.  Bra pockets are born.

I never laughed so hard making and designing these pockets.  I had visons of little old women stuffing their bras with these pockets.  I'm telling the girls two pockets per person. I can really see these girls getting carried away.  My Granny would be proud of me.
What I like about this project is that it is so silly.  Silly yet, the ladies find them so useful.  I really love it when my creative mind solves a challenge and it's for a funny or odd reason. Kay told me that the pocket makes her life so easier.  I told Kay, she made me laugh and smile.
Had I not let myself embrace the silliness of this situation, the silly annoyance would be still annoying.

Is there a silly annonyance in your life that could use some creativity to make it less annoying?
Until next week...create to feel great. 
4 projects complete! 48 to go!

Up On The Roof

"This is the real secret of life: to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now.  Instead of calling it work, realize it is play."           ~ Alan Watts

My husband and I live and own an old Portland style house.  It's way too big for just two people and two cats.  Yet it suits us.  100 year old houses need constant care.  100 year old houses, like the one we have, where the former owners did things to the house that can only be best described as major "what were they thinking!!!" moments...need lots and lots of constant care.  We do our best to keep up.  Thank God for most of the house being structurally sound.  One area of the house that has been a problem for us over the years, is my studio roof.  It leaks.  With all the rain we have in Portland, it's a problem.  Broadside has made several attempts to fix this issue with little to no success.  Considering he hates any sort of home improvement project, he's done well with this roof.  I've let him handle it.  Even though, I grew up with my mother the Shack Flipper, and helping her turn trash into money, for some reason,  I didn't think I could handle fixing this roof.  Last week, when rain was dripping into the room and I was draping everything in plastic, I decided to get over my fear of not being able to fix this roof and do something about it.  It was time to get creative.
The first thing I did was do to some research on the Internet.  I knew that there must be products or inventions for this situation.  I know that I'm not the only person in the world to buy a house that when the former owners decided to do some renovations took heavy doses of LSD and then went to the junk yard or dumpster dived to find building materials.  Sure enough, my old buddy the World Wide Web had some answers for me.  I found what looked like a super great product that would do the trick.  The Universe was planning to provide me with at least two sunny 70 degree days. Time to jump on this thing.
I told Broadside, I'd like to see what I could do with this.  It was going to be my project of the week.  He said he did care and not to fall off the roof.  (It's a flat roof)  He also said. "That's a lot of work for one person and not very creative."
Those were almost like fighting words to me.  At very least, a call to action.  As I drove out to the only hardware store in town, that carries this product, I was thinking. "Yeah, it is going to be a lot of work.  But so is living with water rushing in my studio and not to mention dry rot. And how dare he say this isn't a creative project.  I'm going to have to be very creative to make this work."  Once I got to the hardware store, the clerk there was surprised that I knew about this stuff.  There were two contractor looking guys hanging out by the product and they were surprised I knew about this stuff.  All mentioned to me that they thought it was a lot of work for one person.  As I was leaving the store I heard. "Don't fall off the roof."  Comedians are everywhere these days.
I got home and put on my work clothes.  It was warm sunny and bright.  Before I started I thought. "How can I make this fun?"  The idea of  working with a new product.  The possibility of fixing this problem once and for all without falling off the roof, made it a fun challenge.  I wasn't even going to listen to the voices that told me it was going to be a lot of work for one person.   I gathered up my supplies and a radio (I'm not a huge fan of classic rock, but when doing a repair project, classic rock blasting is in order), I stepped out on to the roof.
For most of the project I was on my butt scooting along the edge singing.  The first thing was to lay down a sealing tape.  That was followed by this rubber acrylic stuff.  Which was amazing.  I think I discovered some reasons  why the roof might be leaking as I was doing this.  As I scooted along, I also took time for me to enjoy being outside sitting on a roof in Fall. The birds in my trees.  The views from the roof, I could almost see to downtown.  I watched a lady who lives in the apartments behind my house, hang out her laundry.  My next door neighbor taking his dogs out for walks.  He noticed me and just had to shout out. "Girl! Don't you dare fall off that roof!" I asked him if he would like to help me and he said. "Uh, no.  That's way too much work."
I didn't fall off the roof.   I fell into the moment on that roof.  And you know what?
Not only did I not fall off the roof.  I got the thing coated, hopefully sealed, and because I was singing and enjoying the moment...it didn't seem like a lot of work for one person.

The roof!  All sealed and clean looking!

Broadside kept saying to me. "It's not really a creative project. How does it fit your blog? Do you think people are going to want to read about you scooting on your butt on your flat roof?"
I'm going to answer all that.  1) I write this blog for me.  After all, the insights I get are mine.  If some else gets benefit, I'm thrilled.  If not, oh, well. 2) I had to really engage my creativity to hopefully make this repair work (it hasn't rained yet.  Fingers crossed, everyone). At one point I was applying this stuff with my gloved hand.  I was frosting my roof.  I also think I engaged skills I've learned from other creative projects into this one.  3)Most importantly, I learned that the attitude I take into to something effects the results I create.  The two days I spent on my roof were fun and really zen for me.  The time passed, yet I had lots of time to get everything done. The work on the roof seemed like play, because I created that with my mind set.  I didn't approach the work with the attitude of, I spending two wonderfully warm Fall days fixing my roof, and I'm going to bitch about what a waste of time this is.  Instead, I simply asked myself how can I make this fun.  It's not work it's fun.
I thought about this as I worked and I realized that I do this a lot.  I look at how to make a task fun.  Just asking that question, always brings answers with ease. 'Cause if the answer is forced...then it ain't gonna be fun.
Today, as I write this, I have a sealed roof.  We have a couple more days before rain appears.  I'm hopeful I got that sucker sealed up.  I'm a little sore.  Nothing I don't think a good scheduled massage won't help.
Whatever the outcome I feel good about what I did and how I created play.
So, play comes in so many forms.  It's always there for us to make our life lighter and brighter.
How will you make your next task, that might be a lot of work, fun?


Until next week...create to feel great!  Make some fun!
3 projects complete.  49 to go

How Seeds Get Planted

As a Creativity Life Coach, I often have the opportunity to assist my clients to "plant seeds".  These "seeds" are bits of ideas that when focused on and tended to, grow into something pretty wonderful for them.  I like this idea of "planting seeds".  I think we do this all the time with or without knowledge that that is what we are doing.
This week, as I was working on the project of the week, I was thinking about perhaps the first time I experienced how creating something can shift a person's mood to the positive.
I grew up in what I can only call an overly creative and dramatic household.  Both of my parents, may they rest in peace, were creative and sometimes that creativity was used to create drama and lots of it.  My mother longed to be a "normal" housewife and mother of the post WWII era.  This really wasn't in her wiring, and it was something that cause a lot of conflict in her for I think most of her life.  She did the best she could to come to terms with this conflict. Most of the time she wasn't too successful in her struggle, but when she was, she was a superstar.  I say all this as a preface to my story. At one point in her life, my mother decided to be a Bluebird leader. Bluebirds were the not ready to be a real Campfire Girl sub-group for 6 and 7 year olds.  At the time, I thought it was cool for my mother to be the leader, mainly because for a couple of hours once a week there were at least 15 girls my age at my house. Over the years I use to think. "Why did she do that?"  Now I know, it was my mother's way of creating something for herself.  We would do some pretty amazing craft projects each week.  I really don't remember my mother being more in her element than at the Bluebird meetings each week.  For her, it was a rare Superstar moment in her life.

This was never more apparent than the day President John F. Kennedy was shot.  For kids of my generation, that was a critical shocking day.  It was also the afternoon of a Bluebird meeting.  My mother loved JFK.  I could see the look of shock and sadness on her face as I walked into the house with some of my fellow Bluebirds.  At seven years old we didn't really fully understand what had happened.  Some of us didn't even know what had happened.  My mother bravely turned off the TV and wiped her eyes.  She announced to the group that we would be celebrating Fall today, by collecting leaves and putting them into a project.  It was November and there were tons of leaves to be found.  We then put them on wax paper with colored crayons and melted them with an iron.  The effects were like a stain glass window with nature.  My mother was the strongest and the most focused I ever remember. She even was laughing and smiling at the end of the meeting.  I didn't have many of these days or moments with my mother as I was growing up, yet I think that day a seed was planted and it's growing strong in the present in my life.  I witnessed my mother use her creativity to shift her mood, and all of our moods to one of a celebration of Fall..more importantly life. I realize,  I've been doing this all my life. Now I'm encouraging others to do the same.


These were difficult to get a photo on as they are best seen with light behind them.


In creating this week's project...I'm celebrating Fall and appreciation for all the wonderful people I have in my life.  I celebrated a great birthday a couple of weeks ago with the help of so many wonderful friends.
I collected leaves and used old crayons and melted them in wax paper.  Taking it one step further, I created a thank you card.  Inserted a note. Put them in the mail, without postage, but that's another story for another time. As they come back to me...I'm resending them.  I guess that's a what is called a senior moment. Sigh.

We all "plant seeds" everyday of our lives.  Can you think back to a time when you think someone "planted a seed" and it is growing for your good?  When was the last time you feel you "planted a seed" for your good or the good of others?
Until next week...create to feel great!  Plant a seed and watch it grow into something wonderful!
2 projects complete! 50 to go!

So Ugly It Is Cute

My much beloved, Mickeygirl cat, turned 15 years old this past week.  She's amazingly healthy (after her one long illness), round and sassy and ever so loving.  It's a joy to have her sleep and snore next to me on the futon sofa, as I craft or write or hang out.

Now, 15 is a milestone in a cat's life, she's roughly the same age as Betty White.  I wanted to make her something that would bring her comfort as well as some fun.  So, I decided on making her a cat nip Ugly Doll. Ugly Dolls are a current pop culture thing.  I don't get it.  When I was a kid, anything ugly was, well, in a word, ugly.  No one I knew wanted an ugly doll or anything with ugly as part of it's name. I have say, however I had a huge troll doll collection, but I didn't think of them as ugly.  They just had a different body shape than Barbie and her friends.  Trolls could bring you good luck. An ugly doll filled with cat nip as a gift for a cat seemed sort cool to me.  Perhaps it would bring Mickeygirl some good luck in the coming year. At the very least, it would make her feel good.
I started by looking for a pattern for an Ugly Doll.  They really don't exist, because they are sort of free form. Upon realizing this "free form" idea, I created my own pattern.  I found something liberating in making something that was not perfect. Not pretty.  That was ugly.  That didn't mean that it had to be crappy looking either.
I discovered a big difference between crappy looking and ugly looking.  Crappy looking, looks like you really don't care.  It's throw together with no thought, no concept, and importantly...no love.  Making something that was ugly looking, I had to give it thought, I had to have a concept of what I thought was ugly and I made this with a lot of love.  That last word "love" is key.  Things made with love usually look better (even when the idea is to make ugly), or taste better (yum! home cooking), or sound better (people singing from their heart).
For me, love is key in all things I do.  Coming from a place of love, makes creative expression so much easier.  Coming from a place of love of others makes life easier.  I find when there is that ease in life and love in life, life is wonderful and there isn't much place of negativity and all it's trappings.
So, I look at this Ugly Doll filled with catnip as it lies on my floor waiting for the next cat attack (Mickeygirl loved it so much, she had trouble attacking it for the first couple of days.  Gus took care of that.) I think it's sort of cute, because I can see the love I put into to give to my girl.  That girl cat has taught me more lessons about love over the years and what it means and looks like, it is only fitting that she gets a gift of love for her birthday and everyday.
When was the last time you created something out of love?
Until next week...create to feel great!
1 project complete! 51 to go! Whee Year 2!

53- A Campaign Recap

Today marks week 53 of The Campaign For Creativity To Banish Negativity.  It's my week off from "project of the week."  It's also, my last day at age 53 (I was born at 11:35 pm on October 16th).  Since my last post, I've been receiving a lot of acknowledgement from the people in my life.  Thank you all!  Folks in general are amazed and inspired that I was able to complete 52 projects and that I'm willing to write about it.
A great friend asked me what are some of the things you learned doing this challenge over the past year?  I've been reflecting on this question, let me see if I can recap.
This past year, I've sewn, knitted, painted, quilted,crafted.  I've discovered a wide wide world of crafters who love to share their ideas on the Internet.  It's vast and huge.  So, many creative people out there.  Thank you for all your ideas and tutorials.
I've pushed myself to learn and try to create new things.  I learn to needle felt.  I created a cook book.  I'm now crocheting again. I'm talking about creativity and encouraging others to be more creatively expressive.  I'm taking more creativity coach training, in order to get more cred and certification.  I'm writing again after giving it up years ago.
I've pushed myself to talk about my creative process, my thoughts on life and how I think it works.  I've fearlessly talked about about myself, Broadside, my Grandma and Granny, some of my struggles, and of course my love of cats.  I've proved to myself that I can do whatever I set my mind to do.
Most importantly, I've banished a lot of negativity in my life.  I finding myself laughing more.  Expressing myself in a positive manner as I interact with people in my life.  Some people have commented that they've seen a difference in me. (Thank you!) I'm living more in the present, worrying less about what will happen in the future and creating a fulfilling life and enjoying it.  I can say I'm always looking on the bright side of life (apologies to Eric Idle- I just had to use the reference).
I feel, all this allows me to contribute to others more fully, and thus doing my part to banish negativity.

I'm on a roll here.  I don't think 52 (or 53) weeks is enough. So, starting next week I will be going for year two...Project of the week will return.  The Mickeygirl and Gus saga will continue (More cat stories. Hope you can handle it).  I thinking year two is going to be a butt kicker!  I hope you will join me here.

Until next week...create to feel great!