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

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Creative People: Sonia Singh and the Tree Change Dolls

I have been so impressed by Sonia Singh’s Tree Change Dolls (see the video below) –

I especially loved the looks on the girl’s faces as they held and played with their dolls. One of the girls said, “They kind of look like they’re the same age as you,” and you could see that in their play. I think that the innocence of childhood is so beautiful and should be protected and nurtured. While I do prepare my children for the world that they live in, I am very careful in the way that I prepare them. I have had a very hard time choosing dolls for them and the girls and I have gone the rounds about which toys I’ll buy. In fact, I fell in love with Fanny, by Hollie Hobbie for that very reason, (see this post on my book review).

Sonia talked about the fact that her intention wasn’t to make a statement about the sexualization of girl’s toys, but as her work has become viral, it has created a debate and I believe that part of that is, as her husband said, “They really look lovely this way.” It’s true. There is a sweetness to the dolls. And, it does reflect a choice that the toy manufacturers are making. Based on at least some of the debate (and many of the mothers out there) it seems that a lot more people would also like to have dolls that are sweet and simple. I do love American Girl Dolls for that reason, but they are quite expensive, and this is a great way to save the expense, create, and teach some valuable lessons all at once.

It’s clear that Sonia’s main purpose was to make a statement about upcycling and reusing (as evidenced in her own words, but also in the name that she chose for the company). I am struck by the message that she has given both about choice and about creativity. Knowing that she can’t become a doll manufacturer on the scale of a toy company, she runs an etsy store and has created some videos encouraging others to create their own dolls. On her tumbler site, she encourages others to create saying,

I encourage others to recycle and upcylce old dolls and toys. Do it yourself, do it with friends, do it with children and others in your family, do it with strangers. There are so many plastic dolls already made that could still be played with and could inspire the creative minds of children with a little attention and creativity.

She also points others to some Do It Yourself videos on how to do a doll “makeunder”. The first is on how to remove the paint and change the face of the dolls –

and then she has one on what to do about missing feet and/or shoes, that one uses chemicals and is not recommended for children, but is interesting to watch –

I am so edified by this! I sometimes forget that I still have a choice and can fix the things that I don’t like in the world. We can change our clothes, toys, media, etc. and create things that are uplifting and wholesome in the world around us. Thank you Sonia for such a brilliant idea and for encouraging others to create as well!