Celebrating Creative People

Over the years, I’ve been blogging about people who I have found fascinating with their creativity, and I would like to highlight some of those posts here, to inspire you to continue to work on your creative projects.

For years, I thought that I needed permission or approval to do something creative. Not sure why. I would jot down ideas, keep a million plots for books twisted in my brain, have a shelf of half-completed projects in my house, but I didn’t finish them, and I certainly didn’t show any one anything. Then, two amazing people inspired me. My sister, who started a writing group and kept saying, “what are you working on?” I was in awe at her ability to just work. She said to me, “Ryss, if you need permission, then I give you permission to do projects.” I LOVE her for that. The second was a talk by [then] President Dieter F. Uchtdorf who wrote a talk called “Happiness, Your Heritage” in October 2008. It inspired me at a time when I needed a creative outlet more than anything else in this world.

The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before.

Everyone can create. You don’t need money, position, or influence in order to create something of substance or beauty.

Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment. We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty—and I am not talking about the process of cleaning the rooms of your teenage children.

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Happiness, Your Heritage,” October 2008.

Check out these great reads and I hope that you begin to create today!

• Creative People: The Ostlers – a family creating together – about a family that makes amazing youtube videos together.
• Creative People: Sonia Singh and the Tree Change Dolls – I LOVE the way that she repurposed old dolls for her kids.
• Be “that” Dad! (Or, Let’s all channel the inner creator – which is what the post ends up being about.) – about designer and illustrator David Laferriere, who creates art with a sharpie and a ziploc baggie.
• Creative Chocolate Chip Cookies – about Jen Stott who reverse engineers dessert recipes and then creates her own AMAZING cookie recipes.
• Paper Doll Palooza and Interview with Creator Cory Jensen – if you haven’t seen Cory’s artwork yet, you are in for a TREAT!!
• Creative Homeless – I know this is odd, but I LOVED this guy!
• Childhood Creativity Leads to Education – this little girl dressed up like historical figures everyday – I love her creativity.
• Summer Creativity – Cardboard – about a little kid who created an arcade out of cardboard!
• Pirate Party – ARRRR!! – my cousin is one of the MOST creative people I know.
• As is her sister, but I haven’t written about her yet, but I will. Check out her channel on youtube that teaches art lessons to kids – Andra’s Art
• YouTube Fun – some of the first channels I found on youtube
• Creative Comedy – when I first found Studio C, and yes, I LOVE the new cast as well!
• Creative People: Fred Rogers aka everybody’s neighbor! – I studied about his life for quite a while as I wrote this post. He still fascinates me!
• American Music: The Sherman Brothers or Some Thoughts on Creative Collaboration – this is the duo that brought us so many Disney hits – “Spoonful of Sugar”, etc. It was phenomenal to research them!
• My Composers Series – I wrote about several classical composers, and was blown away by their stories and work.
• Book Reviews Series – I love to find books that embrace creativity or are extraordinarily creative.

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And a final word on creation and this post, is our new tagline (that my middle daughter thought of for this site) –

What will you create today?

Creating with my daughters has been enjoyable, but now that they are older – WOW! This is getting good. Stay tuned!

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• Simplify – read all about it
• Fall Bake Sale
• Celebrating Creative People
• REPOST: Homemade Sugar Easter Eggs
• A New Reboot

Be “that” Dad! (Or, Let’s all channel the inner creator – which is what the post ends up being about.)

Recently I ran across “the Dad that draws on sandwich bags,” David Laferriere, a designer and illustrator who creates art with a sharpie and a ziploc baggie, so that everyday when his kids open their lunches at school, they are met with something amazing!

Check out a video about him here and links to his website and his flickr account which is definitely worth a look.

In the video, he stated that “it was a way to kick-start his creative juices in the morning” which is such a win-win! Be creative, show love to the kids, become listed as one of the world’s greatest Dads. NICE!

My first thought today is, “in what ways can I creatively show my kids that I love them?” I know that whenever my Mom sent me a note in my  school lunch, I relished it.  Just a simple little, “Have a lovely day, my treasure. XOXO, Mummy” (My mom has a British background. 😉 ).

I am more of a mediocre artist, so as I studied this amazing Dad, I began to think about things that I like to do creatively and how I could use those creative juices in a way that would show my love?  Kids are excited when they are the center of attention. What a great way to bond with them.  I decided to pull out the old (and some new) poems that I wrote about them when they were toddlers, dust them off, add a layer of polish and see if it will make them smile.  Here’s one –

Ruby in her red galoshes
In the wet and mud she sploshes,
In the tub when she washes,
At the table, munch and moshes.
Sploshes, washes, moshes – 
Ruby loves her red galoshes!

Until …
Ruby spies pink glitter slippers,
Though this time she is much hipper,
As the shoe is much, much quicker,
And it matches the skirt with zippers.
Hipper, quicker, zipper – 
Ruby loves pink glitter slippers.

Until …
Ruby spies the green high heel
Now, this is the real deal!
Matches it with a dress of teal,
Twirls and she gives a squeal!
Deal, teal, squeal – 
Ruby loves mom’s big high heels.

Until …

Okay, it’s silly, I know. But there are a couple of things I want to say here about creation.

1. I LOVED writing that. It was silly, and fun, and I loved the spark of imagination that came as I wrote.
2. I am PETRIFIED to share it. You can tell because I practically apologized for it right after I shared it (I said, “Okay, it’s silly, I know”.) If I had more courage in my own creative abilities, I’d say something like – “Did you want me to sign a copy of that poem for you?  ‘Cause that’s gold!”

Why do we doubt our abilities? (Ok, maybe I’m making that statement too general. Maybe you are different and everything that you do is amazing.  If so, that’s awesome! Ride that pony, keep creating!) For the rest of us … I’ve noticed something about a lot of my students. When I push the ones that have undeclared majors on what they would really like to study, they usually say something like interior design, or cooking. But they blush and say it under their breath.

Why is that, I wonder? I’m not judging them for cooking. I’m not thinking “How dare you want to major in cooking!  Go back to the social status that you were born into – to be a stable boy. Your father was a stable boy, your grandfather was a stable boy, and so shall you be. There will be no dreams here …” It’s not happening. Usually, I’m wondering if somewhere there will be a pastry in it  for me. 😉

When I went to college, I finally got the courage to take a few creative writing classes (which I reveled in) and some theater classes (which I loved almost equally). But, I was too scared to major in creative writing or theater. I’m happy with the path that my life went on, but I counsel everyone to study what they love.  You will excel when you are doing what you love, not what just what you think will make money, because if you hate it when you’re doing it, you won’t make money in it anyway. Yes, you know that I’m right on this. Just think about “that” doctor at the clinic that no one wants to go to because he/she is a misery to be around.

For those of us who already have a path (college degree, work, family, etc.), practice your creative dreams! Practice on your children, who think the world of you, anyway (especially if you create for or with them). Practice on a blog that mom and only your most loyal friends will read.  Dare yourself to perform at an open mic night, or a community play (you can pull off that English accent!) Practice on sandwich bags, or soccer fields as a coach (where you can create those magic plays that only you can dream up).  But most importantly, engage your children with you in your creativity. It will give you opportunities to bond, to talk, to dream together. Each of my older daughters is now writing a book, as in “Mom, can I borrow the computer? I have to work on my book.”  Then we read our writing to each other and discuss plot, character, settings, etc.

Maybe in doing this we and our children will become creators rather than just consumers, (that’s a win for kids who are glued to devices all day!)  Maybe we can get closer to that child who is having a hard time. Maybe we can gain courage in our abilities and talents. Maybe we could be able to have that spark of inspiration fill our souls a little every day.  Now, that would be awesome!