Sleep…Phooie

Club Creative Studio’s blog posts have a focus on CREATIVITY.  Today’s focus is on the creativity that is found when it should not be found.

I wish I knew the source of this art.

Is sleep over-rated? I have this thought from time to time. Phooie on sleep!  A perfect sleep or powerful rest are sometimes far and few in between. Are they for you?

It is no secret that many have difficulties sleeping for long periods of time. Some people have medical issues with sleeplessness, others blame this lack of sleep on a busy mind. No matter the cause of sleepless days, weeks, months you may be able to turn those hours into productive times.

For me, not being tired enough for a good sleep, or being restless is a sign that I need to be doing something creative.  I use those times to plan, experiment or apply a hands-on technique that express creativity.  Creativity never sleeps.  Your mind is always racing with creative thoughts.

I figure that I might as well act upon those creative times instead of dwell on them in an idle mode. I can be more or less creative as I get more or less sleep.

There are certain days of the month that I find that I am awake longer periods of time and are then in turn are more creative and productive.  If you have that pattern, take advantage of how you feel. If there is a certain time of day that sparks you to focus more, then take that as a sign to do what you do best when you can.  It may be a matter of being in-tune with yourself that allows you to be at your most creative levels.

Take time for the things you need like sleep.

Take time for yourself and remember to listen to the needs of your body. If you do need extra sleep then by all means attempt to get that. Insomnia is no joke. If you need to be awake and creative, then find a way to make that happen.  Find a balance. Find your balance. Do not deprive yourself  of sleep for creativity but, be creatively productive in those times that you are unable to relax enough for normal sleep needs.

Your mind needs to rest.  Your body needs rest for well-being, we all know this. No one knows YOU better than YOU.  Sometimes that lack of sleep one day is what you will make up for on the next day.

When it comes to CREATIVITY, I find it helpful to seize the moment.

The ideas, trials, errors, experiments may be forgotten if not acted upon quickly so when you are dealing with a creative effort sometimes it is best to act upon it when the mood strikes.  That may be the reason that some of my best ideas come to me in the middle of the night. For goodness sakes, if you are too tired the next day remember what a good power-nap can do for you?

Happy creating to you today – no matter what time of day or night it is for you!

Can’t Beat Them? Join Them!

Keep Educating Yourself.

As today’s Feature Friday post I would just like to add a few graphics here that I found to highlight as inspiration.  I hope that you have the opportunity to take time for yourself and use it wisely to improve upon something intellectually.  It may be as simple as taking an hour out for a teleseminar or webinar or an extended plan for a course or degree.

The reason I have chosen to take a minute to post specifically on this topic is because I recently took the plunge, overcame fears and took part in my first teleseminar and webinar situations.  They were very rewarding, and proved to be a time investment! It took too long to beat around the bush and not explore these key educational opportunities, so I decided to join in.  What will you be able to do to improve yourself creatively? What’s your way to K.E.Y. in life? Feel free to share your learning experiences with us here in a comment.

I wish you happy CREATING and happy LEARNING DISCOVERIES!

I’m Making Room for Improvements

Club Creative Studio is in the process of making a few changes that will surely translate into many favorable results.  Pardon this interruption from the typical blog post and continued series posts about creativity. I am posting a special feature post to announce my excitement.  And yes, it does have to also do with CREATIVITY.

In the past it has sometimes been hard to convey the details and beauty of our creations from a mere photograph.  Often times I would hear at a craft fair that Club Creative Studio jewelry is so cool up close and personal compared to seeing it in photos.  While it is true that there is nothing like actually seeing something with your own eyes and holding a creation in your own hands, I should always strive to show you what makes our art so unique.

New lighting system for taking photos of Club Creative Studio Art.

I have taken many notes over time in hopes to learn more and present art in better ways to you. It is clear that I want you to be able to see in detail what makes our creations so wonderful and pleasing to own.  With that being said, I have invested in a new lighting system that so far has excited me very much.  If you will notice, I am taking great care in presenting art with better photography.  This is exciting because you can’t always be at an Art Fair that I am at, and you want to see art just like those walking in front of my booth space.

BEFORE LIGHTING PHOTOGRAPH:

While this photograph was “o.k.” I think the AFTER PHOTO is much better!

AFTER LIGHTING PHOTOGRAPH:

I am thrilled to be able to capture the sparkle and depth of this necklace.

Please share your thoughts on the improvements.

It is my hope to bring you information that will better serve you and represent our creations in a true light to show-case their magnificent qualities the best way possible.

The online store will progressively display better photographs. If you would like to request that a particular item be re-photographed, all you have to do is contact me via e-mail with the product name and item number. Thank you for wearing and sharing Club Creative Studio Art!

http://www.clubcreativestudio.com

veronica@clubcreativestudio.com

Deliberate Doodles

It is no secret that when we are able to step out of our own comfort zones we open up to creative possibilities.  Today’s post is about how you take steps above and beyond a doodle. By creating a deliberate doodle, you take time to think about each line and each design element in a drawing, the results are creative, expressive, and have bold contrasts.

Club Creative Studio’s thankfulness continues from the event of yesterday.  I am thankful for two things, first for the willingness to discover something new and secondly, for the power of persasion.  Trying something new takes courage but, there is so much to learn from diving into something we have not done before or have the desire to step beyond in development.

Success at our first attempts at the Art of Zentangle. I am glad that I talked my friend Melissa into taking a jump into finding her creative side.

Even if we need a gentle push from someone, the encouragement and support of having someone talk us into and talk us through a new adventure can be rewarding. This is a blog about a creative exploration that stems from a class/workshop called: Zentangle. The Zentangle® art form and method was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. Zentangle® is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc.

Our start-up- kit for the ZenTangle workshop.

The creative event from last night happened first by chance, then came into being on purpose.

While taking in the local sites in my new neighborhood, I knew that I needed to visit a few branch libaries, get a card and get aquainted with the floor plan and what it had to offer my community.  I love libraries because you can walk in and instantly feel the intellectual engagement  amd commitment to knowledge in the air. People go there for many different reasons and there is so much to gain from what it offers.  The Abington Free Library, in Abington PA, was the site that offered a two hour introductory workshop. The Certified Zentangle Instructor: Katy Abbott, shared her story on how this art centers her, gives her calmness, and expresses and satisfies her creativity.

Zentangle is eccentually the expression of line in an abstract and deliberate manner.

These are my first attemps at Zentangle. During the class we learned many patterns to get our creative juices flowing. I know I am inspired to do more.

We shared our results and were pleased with the variety and hidden talents revealed along the way.

Display of our first creations and many of us admired the success.

I plan on using my images in some of my new jewelry design ideas. It sounds like an exciting plan to place another level of a unique quality into what I love to do.  If you would like to explore this method of expressive and open-ended drawing, and the supplies needed, check out the link here and be inspired to learn and discover how your doodles can become more deliberate.

                                 http://tanglepatterns.com

                               Happy Creating!

Related articles

• Zentangle Zen (clubcreativestudio.wordpress.com)

Plastic Painting Project Part l

Daughter’s contribution: acrylic painted background.

Club Creative Studio art has a main focus on bead-making, jewelry making and using hand-made clay and glass beads in interesting ways. But, because creativity is limited only to one’s imagination, it is natural that other materials take center stage from time to time.  This post informs you of a group project using mixed media on a painted canvas.

Exploring the uses of a variety of supplies opens your mind to new techniques and use of materials. Sometimes the most unconventional materials used, make a project extra interesting. There is a growth and a new-found appreciation to be found in using new materials. In our mother/daughter art project we used primed canvas, acrylic paint, permanent markers in black and metallic silver, heavy gel gloss medium, recycled plastic soda bottles, ink and hand-made polymer clay beads.

This post is part one of a two part explaination of what we created as our group project.

Many enjoy the challenges of recycling. There is also the thrill to know that you have not only helped develop a creative mode but, you have used throw-away objects in a new and exciting way.

Recently my daughter and I joined forces to create an inspirational painting for the new studio space of Club Creative Studio. I knew that I wanted to incorporate many texts within our canvas because I love being inspired by creative quotes. And my daughter knew that she could contribute by painting the background of the canvas for me to use as a colorful backdrop for whatever was developed on top.  To begin we set up the easel and let her go with the flow for the painted background portion.

acrylic painting swirls of color help create the feeling of movement.

Next, we added the quotes about creativity throughout the entire canvas, using permanent markers and varied the are thickness and font style of each quote applied.  Glossing over the entire surface, we added protection and a slight sheen to the canvas surface. Adding a gloss seems to also intensify the paint tints too so it is a double pleasure to use it.

Inspired by quotes about CREATIVITY.

Finally, we added some unexpected elements by adding recycled and melted plastic bottle flowers, with a hand-made polymer clay bead for each center bloom on the canvas.

Melted plastic bottle formed to be a flower bloom.

Follow this blog post on Two-Cent Tuesday for Part ll of this Plastic Painting Project. I’ll show the completed creation and explain how we made the recycled plastic bottle blooms.

Related articles

• Breakthrough in mixed plastics recycling as new plant opens – Rebecca Smithers (greenerscience.wordpress.com)

Creativity: Pass It On

Club Creative Studio shares information about CREATIVITY.

Today, is Two-Cent Tuesday and that means I blog about low-cost creativity.  I’d like to share a suggestion that is also a “no-brainer” activity for the one that is somewhat crafty or artistic already.  If you look upon your artistic time as a place to experience personal serenity or creative growth as a creative outlet for personal growth, take some of that time to consider sharing your passion for the arts.

There are opportunities for creative growth in sharing the passions for arts you have with others around you or in the community.  There are opportunities for sharing your trials and errors by blogging about your experiences, teaching your craft, being an active participant in a formed group supporting the arts or allowing someone to work alongside of you while you physically create art.  Help the visual learner experience creative growth from your artistic expressions.

Share the love, and reasons why you create.  Pass the ideas of creativity along.  Show someone else how your passion makes you feel. Pass on the creativity bug, and you may find that you grow in appreciation and idea-flow as well.  Watching the wheels turn from other creative people is contagious and inspiring.

Creativity: Pass it On. Share your passion with others.

If you are busy being creative in your space anyway, just invite someone to explore your supplies alongside of you. Having creative company gives you someone to get instant feed-back from if you are sharing questions and experiences.  Creating along side someone, gives you on-the-spot ideas that turn into motivation and courage to try something new in technique.

Helping make beads with Club Creative Studio.

You can be the model and mentor and not even realize it by merely allowing someone to work along side you.  As an example of being a creative model, take into account the times that you sit near a child simply “playing” with clay.  Perhaps the very young do not know how to make a “clay snake”.  By offering a “copy-cat” situation, seeing becomes doing and thus, you have shared creativity.

Creativity: be a creative model.

By sharing time when you offer unstructured guidance, you give the gift of confidence to someone exploring their own creativity.  How will you nurture creativity in others today?

Hand-made gift idea framed scrapbook page and mini-photo book.

As school days end with summer vacation near, the art classroom does not have to disappear until next year.  Nurture creativity around you and encourage, inspire, prompt and challenge creativity to be explored in everyday life.  Creativity is indeed contagious.  Pass it on, and see how it spreads!  Happy creating to you and yours!

For more creative prompts, please check out past blog posts.  And follow the creativity on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/ClubCreativeStudio Push the like button and you’ll see additional ideas on how creativity and the creative process is explored.  I share creative creations at http://www.clubcreativestudio.com You will want to check that out, as the creative ideas are plenty!  Have a great time as you are inspired or inspire others to Be Creative Everyday!

The Waiting Game

Smile during your creative process.

Today’s TNT (This-N-That) post from Club Creative Studio is about technique in your creative process. I often find myself playing “the waiting game”.  You know what this means to an individual on a daily basis. We wait in line, we wait for the mail to come, we wait in traffic, we wait for the dryer to signal the clothes are dry. We wait for the text response, we wait for something to download, we WAIT, WAIT, WAIT!

But wait there is more waiting if you are an artist!  It is what we do with that “wait time” when we are creatively working that is important.  When an artist has down time, time in which we have to wait for something to dry, wait for something to stick together, wait for something to cure, melt, mold, bake, even sell… we need to also occupy that time to be productive.  And guess what?  An artist usually fills their wait time with something that takes even more time to wait for, right?

I often find myself doing tasks in the studio that involve multiple skills, steps or focus.  It is just part of the nature of the beast of putting constructions together, that forces us to wait for one step to be completed before another is started.  Multitasking is nothing new.  Multi-focus is the skill that is in question.  Being able to move from one task to another quickly is productive if you are organized, goal-oriented, and patient.

Organize your stuff!

Organization

When your supplies and work space are organized, your efforts become smooth and there is less time dealing with details that waste time.

Organization offers the flow of creativity because you can see more clearly and tools are readily at hand where you expect them to be.

Order in your space allows you to see the process in front of you without distractions.

Striving to be more organized can form habits that are productive in day-to-day activities outside of your craft.

Set your goals.

Goal-Setting

Being goal-oriented means you have a focus and outcome in mind.  Sometimes in art, that has to be general since we want the over-all outcome to be creative, not totally predicted.

Knowing what you want to do at the start of a process stems from being organized and also grows out of having the foresight of knowing what supplies you need to begin step one.

Inspiration and goals can be used together to give you a mental snapshot of where you want your project to head.  Envisioning the plan and product together sparks creativity.

Patience

No doubt about it deadlines and creativity sometimes do not mesh well but, being patient does have its rewards for reaching a time related task.

Setting the pace for creativity will manage your time more effectively.  Leaving room in the day for trial and error accounts will be less stressful and more successful.

I practice being patient by moving from one task to another.  I try not to get too frustrated with various steps of a complicated or intense project at hand because of those little breaks.

Take into account what your starting point and ending points look like.

Are you organized?

Do you know your goals for your creative process?

Are you patient?

I would like to end this post by sharing one idea that helps me pass time in between projects.  The focus on the REWARD, which is different from the word GOAL.  As a “reward” to myself as a job well done creatively and in celebration of an accomplished task, I take time to savor.  Chocolate and tea work for me!

My “pick-me-up-reward beverage” choice is sweet tea!

Let us know what you do in your daily “waiting game” challenges.  Do you have a routine or helpful hint for others that explains why you can be more creative during the times you have to wait in between steps of a project?  We’d love for you to share your thoughts below in a comment. Thanks for stopping by the blog,  Good luck in your creativity today!

Creative Questions

Image: hypperridedesign

Club Creative Studio has pressing questions for you today: What is your recipe for making your concoction of creative juice?  Do you have a secret combination of ingredients that jump-start your creative process? Is it just the right amount of mood, skill, talent and forces that come together for successful thinking?  What is your secret weapon for creating the perfect storm of productivity? What makes a whirl-wind of constructive ideas flow for you?

Maybe one thing or a combination of several aspects make you more creative one day compared to the next.  For me, creative times come naturally.  It’s what I am interested in and have a passion about so it is second nature to want to be involved in the creative process in some form during my day.  It is also a conscious personal and business mantra: Be Creative Every Day.

With that being said, I would like to share the characteristics that I have noticed that answer the questions of creativity for me.  What can you add that also answers the general query: What makes your creativity flow?

C:    Catching random thoughts and using them in an artful constructive way

R:    Reaching beyond what is normal and reaching deeper than the surface to try something new

E:     Experimenting with different combinations of materials

A:     Acquiring new skills and allowing them to become second nature

T:    Taking my time to create and express what I want and need to

I:    Initial reactions gathered can be used for inspiration to jump-start creative thoughts

V:    Variety is the spice of life, so taking breaks help me stretch my focus longer

I:    Involve others and gain suggestions as insights for new prospectives

T:    Tossing aside what I think will not work too quickly might save me time, but does not provide creative growth

Y:    Yes, I did it!  Take pride in originality and success of another creative mission accomplished!

Ask yourself creative questions.

Thank you for adding your comments, I’d love to hear about what is making your creative time bomb tick!

Z is for Zen Zone

Z is for Zen. Achieving the state of calmness in self and environment that everything is “right” and aligned with self and the universe means total zen to me. Don’t we all want to enjoy that feeling?  I find my Zen Zone in beading. Now that my first A to Z blog challenge is complete, I have realized “my creative zen”.  OMM!  What will you do to reach the state of creative bliss?

Club Creative Studio hand-made beaded zen necklace.

It has been a delight to share information  and art with you from Club Creative Studio.  It has been a wonderful challenge to use the alphabet as a creative prompt for that venue. Thank you to those involved with brainstorming, maintaining, supporting and promoting this blog challenge.

When one creative project ends that is not the end...

Thank you for following  Club Creative Studio’s posts and the journey through the alphabet with a focus on CREATIVITY!  I will surely take part in this challenge again.

This does not mean that the blog comes to a halt.  Please stay tuned for more information that deals with the theme of creativeness.  If you are new here, and as a reminder, I try to blog a few times a week.

Follow the creativity!

On Tuesdays, the theme is called: Two-Cent Tuesday. I focus on sharing a low-cost idea, or activity.

On Thursdays, the post is refered to as:  a TNT post.  This means it has a wider topic range and fits nicely into being called “This-N-That”. 

Feature Friday is the day where I normally highlight something new or interesting from the design table at Club Creative Studio.

I welcome you to also follow the creativity on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/ClubCreativeStudio  and on Twitter @ClubCreativeArt

And, certainly, I’d love for you to visit the online storefront with more unique items available in the ever-changing inventory at: http://www.clubcreativestudio.com

Take the steps to create your place of creative zen today!

S is for Stoned

Club Creative Studio continues to embrace Earth Day with the love of rocks.  Beautiful stones are all around, and when you pick one up to examine, look closely and appreciate nature. You have color, shape, and texture to explore.

Today’s post will hopefully be inspiration to you. Admire the stones photographed and the creative enhancements with wire that I have added to them. I love adding wire to stones to highlight them and create great focal point pendants and other items.

Club Creative Studio hand-made tie tack with stone and wrapped wire.

Club Creative Studio hand-wrapped wire stone pendant.

Club Creative Studio dyed stone teardrop earrings with hand-wrapped wire.