Inhaling Creativity

Inhaling Goodbye

2010-10-12T23:49:00.000-03:00

Sometimes reaching the end of an adventure lets you realize that it really is more of a beginning than an ending, even though you have to close a door.

If I am honest with myself, my heart really wasn’t in this adventure from about February on.

I had such grand plans when I started just over a year ago on my 44th birthday... of turning my life and maybe even the world upside down with a quest to add more creativity to my daily life.

I loved the format, the idea and the theme... but as I wrestled with my own personal issues after my father died, Nick’s mother fell ill and some other upheavals which shall remain private, I felt as if I was failing at so many things, especially this blog.

I do know that trying to practice Creativity daily kept me sane.

I discovered that sometimes you do need to plan instead of just boldly leaping into something and ending up with a bit of a belly flop.

I know that I will come back to this idea someday, perhaps after I have played a bit more.

For now, however, it is time to take a very deep breath and say goodbye to this blog.

THANK YOU for all the fun along the way!

Being Creative in Prayer...

2010-06-25T11:28:00.000-03:00

If I learned nothing else over the past 15 weeks of family chaos, trials, tribulations and joys, it is that I need to focus when I pray. I have one of those brains that is more like a habitrail than a hamster wheel. My worries and prayers run off on all kinds of tangents, twists and turns until it forms some mobius loop of angst in my soul and functioning becomes difficult.

We don’t have rosaries or worry beads in the United Church Tradition, but as I began to look at how many cultures use beads or stones to help focus for meditation and prayer, this little idea began to grow in the back of my mind.

What if I could create some anchors to help me keep on track as I prayed? What if I could break the basic things I tend to pray about on a regular basis into categories that would repeat in a cycle which I could separate with special beads.

So... I’ve begun to explore the idea, making little shapes out of Fimo. I will have to rummage through my stash of special beads or have an excuse to visit beading places!

I’m not quite sure where this will lead yet, but exploring the Spiritual side of my Creativity is just another fun part of this adventure.

INHALE: Faith is something that we may grow up with, we may change how we experience, we may question or we may finally make our own instead of just accepting the beliefs of our parents. It is something that many of us use as a foundation on which to base our value system, our outlook on the world and even our hopes for the future. Above all, it is something intensely personal, even if it is celebrated in community. Thinking about where we fit in relationship to the world, the cosmos and all things eternal puts us in great company. Many of the most creative people in our history have explored this side of their lives.

EXHALE: Whatever faith you celebrate, or even if you are still asking yourself questions about what you believe, think about how you could practice that more creatively. Could you make a quiet, inviting space somewhere in your house? Could you make a candle to light during your devotional time? Keep a prayer or gratitude journal? The possibilities are almost as the Universe in which we live.

Using Creativity To Make A Difference...

2010-06-21T21:45:00.000-03:00

Sometimes, life events and disasters happen that make us feel completely overwhelmed. It is much easier, we tell ourselves, to hide from reality than to face something seemingly hopeless face on.

But Creativity whispers to our hearts that anything is possible, as long as we try.

Illustrator Kelly Light has found an incredibly Creative way to deal with the Gulf Oil DIsaster. Artists from all over the world are donating tiny original paintings, drawings or digital prints to be sold to anyone who makes a $10.00 donation to two organizations helping to tackle this disaster. "Swan Song" (shown above) and "What Greed Can Do" (below) are two of the images that I will be sending in to Kelly for this cause.

INHALE: Never give up hope. Something beautiful or creative can come from almost any disaster or tragedy if we keep looking for possibilities. Just look at the infinite variety of how different artists of all ages and walks of life have felt moved to contribute. It may almost take your breath away!

EXHALE: If you can draw, paint or doodle, consider creating a piece of artwork for this worthy cause. If you prefer to appreciate art rather than create it yourself, browse through this blog and keep an eye out for an image that appeals to you. Follow the blog, spread the word and make a difference. The card I bought arrived in the mail a few days ago and now graces the wall of my office. Remember that you can always use your Creativity to make the world a better and more beautiful place.

I FORGOT...

2010-06-20T22:05:00.000-03:00

The thing about taking on an ambitious project and doing it in front of the world is that when you fail, you fail spectacularly. It sometimes makes picking up the pieces more difficult.

Just over 9 months ago, I began what I thought would be a fairly simple adventure... take one year of my life to explore how to add more creativity to each day...a 365 day adventure.

The funny thing about thinking of each day as including an INHALE and EXHALE activity was that somewhere along the line as our lives got more and more stressful, I wasn’t just gasping for air, I literally forgot how to breathe.

Stress makes you do funny things.

I would wake gasping from a dream of being smothered with my heart racing and then be unable to get back to sleep.

I found myself getting lost in simple, mindless things like watching odd TV shows or playing Farmville on Facebook after a long day of substitute teaching instead of picking up a pencil to sketch or a needle to stitch.

So to those who were waiting for me to offer some guidance along the way in this adventure, I apologize for the huge gap in this blog.

I didn’t even journal through this stretch of darkness, which is really odd for me. It was as if I wanted to have no proof of this dark time and my black thoughts anywhere.

While I went out and smiled when I was teaching, meeting with clients or doing Zoomba classes, at home I curled up, hid and just tried to keep my lungs working, even as my mother-in-law had to have a whole section of hers removed. Nick and I were each trying to comfort the other when we didn’t feel strong ourselves, hoping to keep things as normal as possible for the kids. I am sure they saw through some of our cracks.

After a very long stretch, almost 15 weeks, my mother-in-law is home from the hospital, weak but on the mend. Nick is wrapping up a school year that is ending with chaos and uncertainty as his school gets downsized to move students to a new school as boundaries get redrawn. The girls are ending up their year on a high note with Erin earning a spot on Team NB for volleyball, the elite provincial team along with an academic award for Grade 9. Bethany’s awards ceremony is this week and she is hopeful about her marks earning her some recognition as well.

As for me, I have spent enough time in the quiet to realize that INHALING CREATIVITY could never be a single year’s adventure. It is going to take me quite a few years to put together a daily creativity adventure to follow or share. I am starting to feel as if this is not just something to try for a year, but rather a way to live and keep breathing on a daily basis for the rest of my life.

Through all this chaos, I still found myself doodling, rummaging for wool, staring at floor tile patterns or looking for shapes in clouds. I even found heart shapes in watermelons and bits of discarded plastic.

Maybe this isn’t anything I can turn off.

Maybe choosing Inhalations and Exhalations was the right image after all.

It’s time to take a deep breath and begin again.

Join me tomorrow for the first new breath of this adventure.

Creativity in Theatre...

2010-04-16T22:59:00.001-03:00

Tonight, our family went to see the production of CATS at Erin’s high school, Harrison Trimble . For the past few weeks, Erin and I have helped paint two young men in their leotards and part of the set. We’ve had glimpses of the many hands that go into such a big production behind the scenes, but tonight, we got to see everything come together for the Friday night show.

I was blown away!

From the amazing set to the fabulous choreography put together by one of the Grade 12 students for the entire show, I felt a warm glow of pride swell to a tidal wave of astonishment as the night unfolded.

Kids that I have seen in a classroom setting as a substitute teacher astounded me with their acting, singing and dancing prowess on the stage. If I found it incredible to see them shine, how much more pride and wonder did their regular teachers feel, especially those who have known these students since they were the age Erin is now in Grade 9?

One of the most amazing thing about turning Creativity loose among young people is that they haven’t lost their ability to dream big, to shoot for the stars and to take on something that a group of adults might think was impossible.

Thank you, all of you CATS, for reminding me how much fun it is to watch a dream take flight!

INHALE: What have you wanted to be a part of but held yourself back? What dream have you tucked away on a shelf as impossible or unattainable? In a world that places so much emphasis on “all or nothing”, perhaps we need to learn how to take those forgotten dreams down, dust them off a bit and see if there isn’t a way to turn them loose on a world that could use more wonder in it...

EXHALE: Make plans to put one of those dreams into action by taking baby steps. If you love to sing, is there a choir or group that you could get involved with? If you dreamed of being an artist, is there an evening course that you could dabble in rather than jumping right to a gallery show? This is the time of year when brochures come out for summer camps and programs, so start taking a look at the possibilities and remember that when you shoot for the stars, you might just land on the moon.

Tonight it was a Jellicle moon. Bravo cast and crew at HTHS!!

Creativity in Prayer...

2010-04-08T23:00:00.000-03:00

When your child is hurt, even if it is minor, you become VERY creative in your prayers.

“Please spare my child this pain...”

“Please let it be me instead...”

“Please help me make her see that she has more than one dream and more than one option in life...”

I feel selfish wrestling with this when there are parents tonight out there watching their children starve to death slowly... parents who are sitting by a hospital bed wondering if they have to say goodbye tonight or not... parents who do not know where their children are tonight.

This is just a wrenched knee and preventative medicine for an overeager athlete who thought she was a bit more indestructible than she proved to be.

But as she cried last night in Emergency, fearing suddenly that her dreams of a volleyball career or University scholarship (I must point out that she is only in Grade 9 but comes from two type A personality parents) were shattered, I wanted to do or promise anything to just be able to make it better.

When we came home and I got her to bed, creeping in to my own bed later after getting my work done, I was very creative with my prayers every time those dark fingers of fear curled their way around my heart.

I thought about pointing out all her other gifts to her.

I thought about the “wherever God closes a door, somewhere He opens a window” line.

I prayed pink clouds of healing surrounding her and her knee in the night.

I remembered the most important lesson that I have been learning along this journey.

Just breathe. Inhale. Exhale. Repeat.

INHALE: Sometimes we are most creative without holding anything in our hands. No crafting supplies, no paintbrush, no pen. Sometimes we are most Creative with the stirrings of our souls and our dreams, our prayers and our wishes, our plans and our possibilities. As long as we remember that we always have choices and that there are always new options we might not have thought about, the curve balls that life tends to throw at us won’t be so bad. That is SO much easier to type than to live out!

EXHALE: Pick one worry in your life right now that feels overwhelming. When you lie there trying to fall asleep or take a moment for yourself to journal, explore all the possibilities in your head. What would be the worst thing that could happen? How could you cope with that? What might be a solution that you’ve overlooked as being too “out of the box”? What have you got to lose? Erin was given the choice to rest her knee now and see if it heals or know that she will miss out playing in the Easterns in 28 days. Sometimes waiting and healing is all we can do. Be Creative in your prayers and in how you face your fears!

Eggstremly Enjoyable...

2010-04-03T22:40:00.001-03:00

My fingers now have several layers of paint that will be difficult to explain tomorrow morning at church.

Friday after church, Erin and I went over to her high school to help paint two young men in their unitards for the upcoming CATS musical.

This morning, we sat down as a family to dye our Easter eggs. For Erin’s friend, Holly, who had slept over the night before, this was a first. She had never dyed eggs before so we introduced her to just how many colours a family of artists need to prepare for this eggstravaganza.

We showed her how to use a white crayon to do wax resist patterns and she proved that creativity lives within us all as she made her very first Easter egg ever.

Bethany thought this one of hers was worth showing off...

and Erin liked how this egg of hers turned out.

I always take the longest to do my eggs because I keep trying to get as many colours and as much detail as possible on each egg. For me, it isn’t about how fast I get them done but how much fun I have as I play with the possibilities. This one was really neat with several layers of wax crayons over the different colours.

My favourite egg cracked when I dropped it from just a few inches above the table as it slipped from my hands... a reminder of how fragile egg painting can be, even when working with hard-boiled eggs. in the end, it is worth all the work!

Tonight, I helped my best friend spray paint pieces of styrofoam to turn into a fence on the CATS set and added yet another layer of paint to my fingers and no doubt sacrificed a few brain cells to the fumes...but it was enjoyable.

INHALE: How we celebrate the special occasions in our lives gives us endless opportunities for creativity if we just look for them, give ourselves time to savour it and experience it, ultimately making it part of the celebration itself.

EXHALE: Whatever way in which you celebrate the turning of the seasons, Easter or Passover, find a moment to make something, cook something, plant something or share something with those you love. If you have never played with crayons on hard-boiled eggs, buy some kits when they come on sale in the next few days and sit down to play. You may get messy, but you may also discover that the child within you is not as buried as you thought.

The Seven Month Itch...

2010-03-31T22:33:00.000-03:00

A funny thing happened since my last blog post... I forgot how to breathe. As life threw one curve ball after another at me, I felt as if I was sucking small gasps of air through clenched teeth instead of nice, deep inhales and exhales.

I felt as if the only thing I had to say was a scream or a sob... and I felt crushed.

I’d had such grand plans when I dove into this experiment 7 months ago. I had wonderful visions of filling each day with more joy and creativity than the day before. I envisioned the wonderful, enviable person I would become as I shared this wonderful adventure with an eager, waiting world out there in cyberspace. It was like a honeymoon!

This past month has definitely been more like a couple who have been married at least 7 years... the sparkle was starting to wear off as life kept crashing down around me.

I started to resent my Creativity when it whispered that I should take a bit of time out of the chaos to just breathe. It was like a partner suddenly pointing out an annoying habit of leaving the cap off the toothpaste or socks on the floor.

As I threw myself into the colouring book illustration project with all the changes and approvals, the shift in personnel and the inner demons of self-doubt, my Creativity waited patiently, like a faithful lover waits on the couch on a Friday night for their partner to come home from overtime at the office.

As I scrambled to finish a knitted afghan for a member of my faith family struck down suddenly only to have them die before I could finish it, my Creativity hugged me in comfort and whispered that there would be someone else to appreciate the gift in time.

As I drove my hands, eyes and body to the brink with multiple deadlines, my Creativity chided me to find a better balance the way a spouse would point out that too many cookies is bad for the waistline.

I tried ignoring Creativity’s voice reminding me to just inhale and exhale, to imagine a bit, to dream a bit and to just ride this rough patch through. I felt I had nothing to say to it, to myself or to the world.

Now with some of the deadlines passed and a crop of new pressures on the horizon, my Creativity and I have entered a new, deeper relationship. I have learned that I don’t have to justify this adventure to myself or make it live up to some impossible standard, I just have to go through the process.

One breath at a time.

Inhale...

Exhale...

Repeat

As I look back on what I did during the past 41 days of my life and the silence here in cyberspace, I can see how my Creativity prodded me, encouraged me and pestered me into living this adventure despite myself. Here’s how I know.

• the lap quilt that would have been for Betty if she'd survived the stroke and heart attack...

• the scarf I finished for Erin just as the last of the snow melted...

• the ornament I designed and stitched for next fall's JCS ornament issue... sorry, you only get a tiny peek!

• the denim blue moss stitch scarf that only worked in the car and not at the volleyball games. I kept forgetting to K or P!

• the logo designed for a friend's family reunion this summer...

• a glimpse at two of the quick sketches I did on my tablet hooked up to the smart board during a school visit where

Paul Burns (author of Owen & the Dinosaur) and I did an enrichment workshop where they created stories as a group while I illustrated the panels.

• the pink wool I picked up to knit a baby blanket for my cousin's little daughter who was just born a few weeks ago. It is half done thanks to a 2 day tournament in Halifax as well as the drive there and back...

No Inhale or Exhale tonight... just the whisper "I'm Back!"

Creativity in Business...

2010-02-18T21:55:00.000-04:00

When I first began this adventure just over 6 months ago, I had visions of setting out a clear pattern to each day, imposing my Creativity on the world around me. Instead of being the teacher, I became the student. Creativity gently and persistently reminded me that I learned best when I kept myself open to possibilities, looked for opportunities instead of answers and just kept walking this journey to see where it would lead me.

Right after my last post, I received a call from an ad agency here in town who wanted to meet with me to look over my portfolio and quote on a job for a possible colouring book for one of their clients. I stayed up printing things out, reorganizing my portfolio and booked the day off from supply teaching so that I could meet with them first thing in the morning.

Once I arrived at the agency, I discovered that most of the staff was French, so I just switched languages and did the rest of the interview “en français”. To my slight disappointment, they’d received permission to use the Nova Scotia version of the colouring book and just needed me to redraw some items that were different between our two provinces on 4 inner pages and the cover. It would have been easy to match the existing style of the book, but it wouldn’t have been something I would have wanted to show off.

Then the little voice of Creativity whispered in my ear as the person interviewing me went off to make me photocopies. When she returned, I told her that I would be happy to quote on the 5 pages needed, but that for $200, I would also offer to redraw all of the pages and make it something unique to our province.

I returned home and quickly spent the next hour redrawing one of the sample pages in my own style, scanned it in and sent it off to the agency so that she could submit it to their client along with the quote.

Today, I found out that I not only got the job, but they will get me to draw the whole book and I meet with them on Monday.

It pays to listen to that little whisper and not ignore it. It may have taken me half a year into this adventure, but I am learning. Oh Boy... am I learning! They’ve also asked me to quote on 2 other jobs...

INHALE: Life has cycles and opportunities. This past week has been a reminder of how much we need to respect that cycle instead of just expecting to impose our will on the world around us so that every day proceeds according to some inner plan. The unexpected Snow Day yesterday was another reminder that plans sometimes have to change. Substitute teaching at a new school today where I ended up jumping in to help a student teacher with her lesson instead of just sitting back and twiddling my thumbs was a reminder that there can be Creativity in unexpected opportunities. The students were learning about travel vocabulary in French at a very basic level, so I drew a huge suitcase on the white board and asked them what they would take on a trip. If they didn’t know the word in French, they had to look it up in the dictionary before I would draw it in.

EXHALE: What possibilities and opportunities might have you overlooked in the past few days because they didn’t fit in to the little plan or template that you were carrying around in your head? When our lives become too scheduled, then we miss out on unexpected moments and Creative opportunities. So many business experts proclaim that when you find your passion, it can also become a business or a way to bring income into your life. While I know that when a hobby become a source of income, it does take on a more businesslike edge to it and lose some of the fun, there is also something very powerful about loving what you do.

Never lose sight of opportunities to be Creative at play and at work.

Be Creative In Your Failure...

2010-02-13T10:27:00.000-04:00

It was a rough week. I filled in for a resource teacher at my daughter’s high school again this week which meant that I was not only filling the new SEP information (Specialized Education Plan) into the computer systems for the new terms that just started, I could also be pulled out for any emergency supply work in the building.

Part of that included shepherding a group of 14 students down to a conference at a downtown hotel where they were fed lunch and then became test subjects for a new pilot program to help Grade 10 students determine their career paths, their dreams, their goals and their FOCUS.

As someone who has tried to live my focus for 33 years now, I found this both inspiring and incredibly depressing.

Inspiring, because there are so many more choices for young people than there were in my day going through high school and anything that helps them figure out where their gifts, talents and passions lie is a good thing.

Depressing because I have tried to be true to myself throughout my whole career path in all the ways I have juggled Creativity with other work, motherhood and daily tasks... but I watched my income from something I had built up over 16 years crumble to almost nothing thanks to the Internet and people who felt no guilt about scanning in my cross stitch patterns to share illegally with others.

Sometimes, in the darkest moments of the night, I wonder if I have somehow let my family down by not having a “regular” job that would have built up more job security, benefits and pension over the years and just done my art as a “hobby”.

Then I take a deep breath and remember that working from home gave me time with my children that no money could ever buy back. I see the proof of those years in the young women they are becoming.

I exhale and remember that I have had the joy of seeing my name in print in magazines and on bookshelves.

I inhale and realize that I have tried more often than I have failed...

and that is what being Creative every day as a way of life is all about. It is supposed to be as easy as breathing. It is supposed to be something we just do without thinking. It will probably take me the rest of my life to learn how to do this without my own daily worries, frustrations, criticisms or failures getting in the way.

So be Creative in everything you do... even the moments you think of as failures. If you look at them from another angle, you’ll probably discover a new perspective.

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” - Thomas Edison

INHALE: Remember not to judge yourself by the current world standards. I see kids who think that they have to be “discovered”, become as famous as Miley Cyrus or as wealthy as the Olsen Twins before they become adults. They dream of being on television, in movies and of taking You Tube by storm. Adults think that they must live in huge homes, drive flashy vehicles and have all the outward trappings of SUCCESS... in order to prove that they have lived their lives right. They need all the right things and logos in their lives or need to become brands in their own right for the world to stand up and take notice. The recent disaster in Haiti and other world events keep reminding us that we need far less than that to stay alive, far more basic things to truly be happy and that the basic human, creative spirit is a powerful, creative force in its own right. Take a deep breath and just take each day at a time.

EXHALE: Today’s exhalation is in honour of the Olympics underway right now in Vancouver and the overwhelming Creativity displayed last night during the Opening Ceremonies. Find a quiet corner and take some time to think about areas in your life that you are truly satisfied with. Not all successes can be measured in monetary means or by the world’s standards. With Fimo, tinfoil, glitter, ribbon, Photoshop or anything else that inspires you, make a medal or a trophy to celebrate at least one achievement that you are proud of and tuck it into your keepsake box, sketchbook or put it out on display. Be proud of the ways in which you’ve been true to yourself, your beliefs and your Creativity!

Creativity In How We Share Our Faith...

2010-02-07T22:21:00.000-04:00

I wish I’d brought my camera to church today!!

It was a snowy Sunday and our Annual Meeting right after church, so some members of our congregation stayed home today, but we began a new unit in our BLAST rotation (Bible Learning Adventure STations) downstairs for the kids during church.

After they chose whether to put their offering in the “Helping Here At Home” or “Helping Around the World” boxes, we sat in a circle and introduced the passages from Matthew and Mark where Jesus said “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of people.”

We talked about what it would be like to leave everything you know behind and start over.

We talked about what it must have been like for the people of Haiti who had to race from their homes into the streets. My best friend and her son described what it was like to run from their house while it was burning to the ground and starting over from scratch.

Then, we went into the kitchen and made huge fish shaped pizzas. We spread sauce on flat bread that had been cut in the shapes of fish, sprinkles the cheese on our fish, used pepperoni to make scales on 3 out of the 4 fish and used sliced black olives for the eyes.

Not only was it a creative way to share the stories of our faith... it was DELICIOUS!

INHALE: How do you pass on your faith to those around you, especially the next generation. However you celebrate what you believe and where you draw strength from, fewer people are attending services in many different faiths around the world. Worship is becoming an increasingly personal and private thing for many people, yet we cannot ignore the importance of gathering together to celebrate that there IS more to life than just the number of our days.

EXHALE: This week, as the world focusses on Valentine’s Day and LOVE, remember to find time for yourself as well. How can you be Creative in celebrating what you believe? Can you set up a space for yourself in which to meditate or pray? Can you hunt for books, prayers or music that inspires you? Can you share your faith journey’s story with someone who has never heard the adventure before? Can you write a prayer of love for a planet that needs it? Can you celebrate the blessings that you have by sharing your time and talents with others? Be Creative as you follow in the footsteps of the One who sculpted the Universe.

Getting The Whole Family to Exercise...

2010-02-06T21:55:00.000-04:00

As anyone knows, getting everyone to cooperate when it comes to being healthy and moving more can sometimes be a challenge. Last night, however, it was fun and easy.

The City of Moncton organized a “Zumba For Haiti ” night in our Coliseum's Agrena complex. On the cement floor where trade shows are usually held, a huge stage and sound system were set up, waivers signed and each person attending paid $5.00 to dance/exercise to music for an hour and a half.

For those of you who have never done Zumba (which up until last night included my 2 daughters) it is hard to describe this new form of exercise. Yes, there are routines that you can follow, but if you need to make things lower impact (like I do) or you lose track of where you are (like everyone does their first time) or the spirit moves you otherwise, you can just dance around to the great music.

Now picture over 500 people dancing around to routines in front of a rock concert like stage.

Now picture how much fun we had as a family.

The event raised over $3400 as well as our target heart rates. It was a BLAST!

Yup, you can be Creative in how you get your kids to move more... it just really helps when someone else makes it for a good cause!

INHALE: Until I discovered Zumba and Wii Fit Plus, I will admit I’d fallen into a bit of an exercise rut. Yes, I was still moving, but I wasn’t enjoying it as much as I am now. The sense of play that both these forms of exercise offer, as well as the ability to customize my workout to suit the health challenges of degenerative disk disease, have made staying in shape FUN. When something is fun, you want to do it more and more. There is the creativity we need to pass on to the next generation.

EXHALE: Having fun together is the best way to encourage those you love to join you in moving more. It doesn’t have to be as vigorous a workout as Zumba. This time last year, after a heavy snowfall, our family went for a walk in the woods near our house for almost an hour through the deep snow, leaping for snow laden branches to drop down on each other and pitching snowballs around tree trunks. Leaving seeds for birds, exploring new walking trails, doing housework as a family to rocking tunes. This week, be creative and find a way to get everyone in your family moving, for their health and yours!

Passing Creativity On...

2010-02-01T20:48:00.000-04:00

Yes... I did break down and buy some new wool in Geneva!

I took today “off” from teaching since Erin’s exam had been rescheduled to this morning after Friday’s snowstorm. It was great to be in my own home, download photos and finally get to show off the results of knitting in airports.

Here are the socks I’d been meaning to finish for ages. Getting stuck for ages in airports is a wonderful incentive, great conversation starter and even had one “lapsed knitter” thinking about checking out some of the new yarns...

I also found the circular needles for this project easy to pack. Here is a peek at the last of several baby blankets I’ve been working on for staff members at schools I work in who are expecting babies soon. It is basically just a larger version of my favourite dishcloth patterns but using baby yarn instead. It was great to work on when the kids were watching a video or while I was talking to people.

When we see someone being Creative, it can inspire us to try something ourselves. This is how so many people learned crafts and other creative trades over the years, by watching someone else practice in front of them.

I bought a craft book about sewing for Bethany as a Christmas present that has fascinated her for weeks. While I was away, she started one of the projects with her grandmother, but yesterday showed me a picture of some felt hearts and asked if I could help her make one.

Ah the memories! My mom had a huge stash of felt and used to let us play with the scraps to sew into all kinds of shapes. I took Bethany down to my felt stash and we pulled out a few colours that she liked and cut out the shapes together. Step by step, I walked her through things as I knit beside her on the couch. As I showed her how to do the blanket stitch about the outside edge, I had a sudden flashback to my own childhood and all of the times my mother or grandmother had shown me how to do something.

Here’s to those who help to pass Creativity on!

INHALE: The wonderful thing about the Internet is that you can find all kinds of helpful clips out there on YouTube or other websites to help you learn how to do something, but there is still something unique about sitting down with another person, especially someone more skilled in an area that you want to improve in, and learning from them. Being shown how to do something is a very powerful way of learning that stays with us in a different way from book knowledge. To “learn by doing” makes a skill or Creative act your own.

EXHALE: There are many skills that are becoming “lost arts” these days. So many children don’t know how to sew a button on when it falls off clothing, sand or carve a piece of wood into a shape, cook a meal from scratch, knit, nail, crochet, saw, fix or sew. What used to be learned from family or through earning badges is being replaced by gaming and computer skills. There needs to be room for both in our lives. What skills do you have, what Creative passions can you share with someone from a younger generation? If you don’t have anyone to share with right now, think back to some of the earliest crafts you enjoyed and revisit them. Get out some felt or popsicle sticks and just see what you can put together as you rediscover that sense of Creative Play from your childhood.

Finding Creativity in the Mundane...

2010-01-28T16:42:00.000-04:00

I faced my fears today and drove to France for some afterschool activities with my niece and nephew... surviving roundabouts and mopeds, narrow lanes, delivery trucks and unmanned border crossings. I did not have to resort to chocolate in triumph and the worst moment came as the sun suddenly cleared the clouds to shine on one mountain in particular. I found myself contemplating pulling over suddenly into the farmer’s field to take a picture... luckily, common sense won out.
Yes, today, I finally saw the mountains! The local Swiss probably think the tall person in the burgundy coat is as mad as a hatter. I went up to the top floor of the shopping centre and out into a courtyard between buildings to shoot one picture of Geneva with the mountains behind it. I am sure that tourists with cameras never go there, only smokers, but I might not have had any other proof of Alp sightings! Images are stuck in my camera for now since I am using my brother's computer, but I will alter these posts once I get home to include the images I intended to put here.

Today’s inhalation actually came from the more mundane tasks in my life today as lived in someone else’s house.

INHALE: Chores are pretty un-fun no matter what age you are. Encouraging children to help out can sometimes try your patience on the best of days. Being the visiting Auntie, I can actually coax things out of my niece and nephew because it is something novel, but I truly believe that kids should learn to help out in a family as they grow. When a bit too much of supper landed on the floor under the table tonight, I asked them to show me where the broom hid and once I had the pile of crumbs and meal remains swept into a pile, they took turns "dustbustering". I asked them to clear their plates to the sink from the table by being waiters or waitresses and we got toys put away by asking them to show me where they went. This works because I am visiting... but it at least plants the seed. I am, however, pretty exhausted. This is like looking back in time 6 years at what my own kids were like and trying to remember what tricks worked and what didn’t. The neat thing about young children is that you get instant feedback!

EXHALE: If you are going to find more time to be creative in your everyday life, you have to stop being a martyr and doing it all yourself. This isn’t to say that 4 year olds are capable of complex chores or that 8 year olds can handle doing loads of laundry, but it starts with baby steps. The first thing is to be honest with yourself and know the areas where you can and can’t accept help. I am pretty particular about both washing dishes and washing laundry, but I will always welcome help drying and putting things away. Finding ways to be Creative about how you teach the need for each and every member of a family to help in some way goes a long way towards keeping your own sanity. Think of one or two chores that you could use some help with around the house and some Creative ways in which you could make even the mundane a bit more interesting. Sock fights anyone?

Creativity in Taste...

2010-01-27T17:24:00.000-04:00

I am sitting in a home that is not my own, having finally convinced my niece and nephew to settle down and go to sleep. Today, I wrestled with DVDs and TVs that were not familiar to me, European washing machines to help with laundry and ovens to try to bake cookies with nephew. Everything feels slightly different and yet the same.

What defines the familiar in sensations, sights and tastes that make us say “HOME”? Is it the smell of a favourite recipe baking that takes us back to our childhood, the feel of a certain pillow, blanket or toy, the sight of certain stars to anchor us in space?

Tonight is both a celebration and a shout-out to one person’s creativity as I sip a glass of my favourite wine in the world... one that can only be purchased in Provence near where my brother and sister-in-law have a house and from where they were able to buy bottles to keep here in Geneva.

“à mon père” (accents probably disappeared) means “To My Father” in French. This full-bodied red wine is produced in the Cotes du Ventoux region of France by a son who took over his father’s vineyards and began experimenting with artisanal wines. This one is actually made from a type of grape that was going extinct and was dedicated to his father and the generations that made wine before him. It is an earthy, rich wine that takes me back to sun drenched valleys, sitting by a pool looking down into a French valley and spending time with family. To true craftsmanship and Creativity, I lift my glass. Tears flowed as I sipped this, thinking of my own father, missing my husband who also thinks this is one of the tastiest wines on our planet (and he usually sticks to beer) and celebrating how one person’s creativity in one area can create something to savour.

SCEA Château Blanc, propriétaire récoltant* 84220 Roussillon, France * Tel 04 90 05 64 56

Cheers!

INHALE Today’s post is dedicated to those who pour their Creativity into tastes that we enjoy. In a world where the emphasis is on fast and cheap or convenient, we need to speak up and reclaim the idea that tastes can nourish our souls as well as our bodies. Think of the favourite dishes from your childhood that make you feel loved, the smells and tastes that recreate a holiday you enjoyed or food that is so beautifully crafted that it becomes an experience on more than one level. Creativity can leap out to us in so many ways if we just watch for it or go looking.

EXHALE Think about a food or taste that evokes a Creative response in you. How could you bring a little bit of that into your life this week? When so much of society seems to place an emphasis on QUANTITY rather than Quality, it is important to remember that feeding our eyes and souls is as important as filling our bellies, especially when so many people in our world go hungry every day.

Facing Fears Creatively...

2010-01-26T04:54:00.000-04:00

Sometimes in life there are things that scare us. What is easy for one person might be incredibly difficult for another. Ask me to draw a dinosaur roller-skating and I can do it in a flash. Ask me to speak in public to a crowd of 500? Bring it on! Ask me to do a quadratic equation or drive in a foreign country in someone else’s car... well that’s when my palms get a little sweaty.

I guess because my husband, Nick, is such a good driver and honestly loves to drive any type of car in almost any situation, I seldom drive on long trips in our van. That is PRIME knitting, staring at scenery or daydreaming time!

Being in Geneva, Switzerland this week to help out with my niece and nephew while my brother is away and my sister-in-law handles some major conference calls and then leaves on her own trip meant I was going to have to drive them to and from school each day as well as get them to their various weekly activities. In theory, that sounded a lot less scary than Sunday night and yesterday morning when Anne showed me the various routes I’d need to take. I tried not to panic on the outside as much as I was doing on the inside...

So what do you do when that cold grip of fear starts to take hold? Face your fears and think creatively!

INHALE When Fear strikes or there is something you need to do that will be difficult, the best thing to do is tackle it as soon as possible. Facing fear head on and attacking the problem is much better than ignoring it and hoping it will just go away. Bait is also very good. Once the rush hour traffic was over, I took Anne’s car out on the roads and traced the route I’d have to follow to pick them up later in the day. After that, I even went to the main department store in their area which had underground parking just a bit taller than I am. I was almost giddy with satisfaction once I parked the car and stepped into the store... so of course I rewarded myself with a new type of chocolate bar to try. Since losing my extra weight about 8 years ago and keeping it off, I try not to use food as a reward very often... but I am in a country where really EXCELLENT chocolate takes up almost a full grocery aisle! Need I say more?

EXHALE Find something in your life that you find difficult to do but that needs to be done. Spend 15 minutes and map out a road plan, write a list or brainstorm doodle ways to break that scary task down into some smaller steps. Martha Beck calls them Turtle Steps. Someone else once said “Just eat the elephant one bite at a time.” Taking the first step towards change can often be the hardest part. By thinking more creatively, you may find interesting solutions to challenges that have stumped you up until now. Plus, don’t forget to find some good bait!

Learning to Pray Creatively...

2010-01-25T05:46:00.000-04:00

I meant to post this last night after my safe arrival in Geneva, Switzerland to look after my niece and nephew for a week, but between jetlag, travel adventures and being the Aunty Dragon hug machine, I never got on my brother’s computer until this morning. Given all that has happened since Dad died, all that a few of my friends are facing and some of my travel experiences to get here, this felt like the right topic for today’s Inhaling Creativity.
Any weird typos will be because the y and z are reversed on this European keyboard... so do bear with me if I don’t catch them all.

Prayer comes in many forms for many different religions around the world. Certainly with the disaster in Haiti, many of us around the world are praying for other people in other places more than ever before. That is what intercessory prayer is all about.

INHALE What do you do when you don’t know what you are supposed to pray for? You just turn everything over to God. Praying about someone and for someone doesn’t have to be a bargain, a list of demands or wishes, a plea or even a formal prayer. All you have to do is hold that person, issue or concern in your innermost being and let it go...

EXHALE The next time that someone or something is weighing heavy on your heart, just try being creative in how you pray. I had to calm myself when the customs officer in London took a 3\4 filled bottle of lens solution because it COULD contain 120 ml (companies don’t make a smaller size yet) instead of 100 ml. After I got over the initial desire to pray for a bolt of lightning, I turned my creativity to prayer instead. Inhale, exhale. That’s becoming routine now in tough times as well as good ones. I hold a prayer in my heart and then imagine it as a butterfly, coloured bird or even a balloon... drifting up to Heaven. If we believe in a Creative God (and I have ever since I first saw a platypus) then why should our prayers not reflect that? Pray or praise with music, drawings or images. Write down your own prayers that move you or string one word after the other like worry beads to hold them in your heart; Peace... Healing... Love... Joy...Strength. Just take it one breath at a time.

Traveling Creatively...

2010-01-22T22:34:00.000-04:00

I am all packed and ready to get on a variety of planes tomorrow to head from Moncton, New Brunswick to Geneva, Switzerland. “Aunty Dragon” is needed to look after my niece and nephew for a week while by brother and sister-in-law are away on business, so between the two families, we are getting me there on a combination of airline points.

I will be waiting in one airport for almost 7 hours, so I have already planned how to travel creatively.

My small carryon bag has my iPod touch, my sketchbook, my journal, my old gameboy colour with Pokemon Blue in it (nostalgia gaming) and a pair of socks that I have been meaning to finish for a while now but got distracted by other projects.

My suitcase is full of craft supplies to do with my wonderful dragonlets over there, graph paper to chart a magazine design in cross stitch that I will need to stitch when I get home, two big sketchbooks, watercolour pencils, a manuscript to read over and a knitting project that I have been hoarding for quite some time now.

Now I just need to find enough hours in each day!

INHALE: Traveling isn’t always easy, even though we can now fly around the globe in shorter times than ever before. There can be waits, delays, turbulence and unplanned events. Learning how to travel creatively can go a long way towards reducing stress. Having things to do and read can make the hours go much more quickly. I love writing long journal entries or working on projects while sitting in an airport because I so seldom get that time to just focus on one task. Maybe I should learn how to carry some of that traveling creativity back over into my everyday life!

EXHALE: Traveling teaches us a lot about ourselves and the incredible world around us. Drop by a travel agency and pick out brochures that intrigue you. Clip out photographs from magazines, the internet or articles in magazines that show places where you’d love to visit. Make a list of your top ten destinations in the world and then start saving or planning for a trip somewhere. We have our coin jar ready for our next big family trip and you can bet that our children keep an eye on how often we add to it! When we take it to the bank and add to the trip account, they learn that dreams can come true bit by bit if you just plan for it!

Finding Creativity In Silence...

2010-01-20T23:50:00.000-04:00

Maybe being back in a school environment, among kids who seem to be constantly plugged into music, their phones, the drama of teenage life, that prompted this post. I’m sometimes not sure what drives a certain topic to the forefront when I fully expected to write about something else, but I learned a long time ago to listen to that inner voice.

It sometimes gets drowned out by all the other noise.

I’m not even sure if this post would have been possible to write until now... when the rest of my family is fast asleep, the clock is getting closer to striking midnight and I have moved beyond the panic of everything that needs to get done before I get on a plane Saturday morning.

There is very little noise in my world right now other than the tapping of my fingers as they race across the keyboard, trying to keep up with my scattered thoughts, and the faint sounds of the plows out clearing driveways now that the latest snowfall is done. All is calm, all is quiet.

How often do we allow ourselves to just listen to nothing anymore?

Moments of stillness and silence are sometimes very needed when the world rushes around us at a dizzying speed. Sometimes, instead of finding a fanfare of ideas or rushing about in a firework burst of activity, we need to just listen for the little whispers of our innermost soul... and for that, it must usually be quiet.

Don’t be afraid of the silences in your life... they are the rests and pauses in the song.

INHALE: Some people fear silence more than others. My grandmother kept a police scanner in her bedroom after my grandfather died so that she could not only hear what was going on in her little community, but there were other voices to fill the void after his cheerful whistling about the house was silenced. Nick often keeps the TV on in the background while he gets work done and both my girls love having music blaring in their rooms, listening to playlists that seldom sync with each other. I absolutely LOVE moments when I can hear nothing but the world around me or the sound of my own breathing. Today was a reminder of how much I need to have that quiet reflection time to keep myself in balance.

EXHALE: This will be harder for some of you than others. Find a quiet spot and just sit to listen and think for at least 15 minutes. Pay attention to the random thoughts that pop into your head, but try to turn off the “to do” lists. Listen to the sound of your own breathing. If you find it hard to have your hands empty, you can pick up needles to stitch or knit, doodle something or twiddle your thumbs... but just listen to the silence which is full of other sounds. How comfortable are you with the quiet? What thoughts or ideas scurry through your head most often? What inner truths about your life right now have you been trying to keep from hearing? This is what quiet contemplation can be all about. Turn down the other noise and turn up the quiet... it might just spark something unexpected!

Creativity in Exercise...

2010-01-15T21:41:00.000-04:00

Zumba.

Who would have thought that two syllables would have been such a workout and so much fun!

Ever since discovering that I had degenerative disk disease two years ago, which forced me to give up any exercise that involved a lot of impact, I have been searching for an exercise routine that would be fun, challenging and not hurt me. Tonight, Nick and I went out together on a “date” to the Zumba class at St. Pat’s Family Center . 42 people shook and shimmied and sweated for an hour as the instructor put us through our paces. 41 women and Nick. He was VERY brave and actually enjoyed himself! Two women came up to me afterwards and told me that I had the coolest husband in the world and I agree!

Zumba mixed Latin dance moves, bouncy music and a LOT of upper body work. I kept modifying the routines so that I wasn’t breaking contact with the floor the way some of the younger, perkier people there were, but I love dancing and it was still an awesome workout! The only problem is... my bum hurts. I can’t wait until next Friday!

INHALE: Staying fit shouldn’t be about locking yourself into a routine or type of exercise that becomes a chore... it should be about celebrating how your body can move and taking joy in that. Kids are rarely still. They move like hummingbirds, graze at food and crash for naps when they get tired. It’s too bad that we learn to override all that as adults.

EXHALE: If you have been going through the motions with your exercise routine or avoiding having one at all, it’s time to be creative. Find something that feels more like PLAY than a chore! Think back to the type of activities you used to do as a child for inspiration or browse through the brochures at your local fitness centers. I was able to try tonight’s class for free since it was my first time. I would pay just $6.00 or less for any future sessions and don’t even need a yearly membership. I also adore the Wii Fit Plus game we got for Christmas to go with our board because it has new games to try, new challenges and more ways to tailor individual workouts. Whatever you discover, remember that creativity can apply to ever part of your life, even getting back into shape or staying that way.

When Someone Else Can Say It Better..

2010-01-14T23:05:00.003-04:00

I’ve been struggling with how to post the scattered thoughts I’ve had all week as I struggle to find little ways of being Creative while getting back into a regular routine. To complicate matters, I also gave up drinking Pepsi a week ago and the headaches were pretty bad at first. I still find myself missing my Dad at odd times or wondering how to work in some time for creativity at the end of the day when I need to exercise and pack lunches. Sometimes, it feels as if I am starting over from scratch every day...

Then a beautiful entry on my sister’s blog reminds me that each of us wrestles with that on any creative journey.

Her gift with words sometimes takes my breath away! Then I remember to just take the next breath... and repeat... again and again and again.

INHALE: How often does trying to be perfect get in your way of doing anything at all? How hard are you on yourself when you create anything? How often to you stop before you get very far and think about starting all over again? Maybe it is time to stop trying to be perfect and just concentrate on being.

EXHALE: Instead of trying to do it all ourselves, we can learn from and lean on the wisdom of others. When you feel flustered or frazzled, remember that you are not alone. When you feel like giving up, go looking for words of comfort or inspiration from others. I found these gems tonight and plan to scribe them into my sketchbook!

“The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover is yourself.”

-Alan Alda

“Creativity is the sudden cessation of stupidity.”

-Edwin Land

“The world is but a canvas to the imagination.”

-Henry David Thoreau

Life is "trying things to see if they work."

-Ray Bradbury

Learning the Zen of Knitting...

2010-01-10T22:34:00.000-04:00

Knitters have known for years what I am only discovering in this quiet time after my father’s passing. Until now, I have worked on one or two projects at a time and forged ahead until each one is completed before starting anything new. Now I have 3 scarves, one pair of socks and a baby blanket on the go at the same time. Depending on my mood, I am taking time to sit down for a little while with any of them, watching them grow stitch by stitch. Only one of them has a deadline... and that is in flux because babies can be a bit unpredictable in their arrival date. The rest are just for the sheer pleasure of working with the particular colour of texture of the chosen yarn. None of the knitting is complicated enough that I have to concentrate very hard, so there is also the fun of letting my mind wander. Creative ideas pop up, prayers are spoken from the depths of my heart, dreams remembered or the week ahead planned out as stitch after stitch slips from one needle to the next. When my “thinking time” is over, I have something to show for it. When I sit down to watch television or help the girls with homework, I have something to show for it.

Bit by bit the knitting grows, a single thread turned into something beautiful and functional.
No wonder so many of us get hooked on different crafts or ways of being creative. Each has a magic of its own and something to teach us if we only listen.

INHALE: Sometimes, in order to be creative, we have to pick up something simple to get our hands, mind and spirit to connect better with one another. Musicians have scales to keep them limber on their instrument of choice. Doodling is a great way to let your mind wander for artwork, but every craft out there probably has a simple step or an easy task that can accomplish the same purpose. You want to be creative, but you also want to give your mind a chance to wander a bit and the stress of everyday challenges to be held at bay for just a little while.

EXHALE: This week, find time to enjoy a simple part of the craft you love the most. Find a ball of yarn that you love to touch, cast on 16 stitches and knit until it is used up. Sort your floss boxes or wind some onto their little cards and then tidy up your stitching fabric to see what might work for a simple chart to stitch up between larger projects. Scrapbook some gift tags for next year instead of a whole page for an album. String a group of beads that you like to make a bracelet instead of a fancy necklace. Whatever craft touches your heart in a way that replenishes it, take the time to indulge in something simple so that your mind can go off to a calm place while your hands stay busy. It’s a great escape!

In Awe...

2010-01-04T22:24:00.001-04:00

Every now and then, a movie comes along that makes you believe in something beyond your own reality. The first experience I had with that was, as a child, seeing the original Star Wars movie in 1977. I left the theater in awe and desperately wanting a lightsabre of my own!

There have been other movies where I walked out feeling that same incredible disorientation of not returning to my own reality right away... Lord of the Rings , Narnia , Terminator , the Passion of Christ , some of the Star Trek movies and, of course, Titanic .

Seeing Avatar today was even more profound. I truly felt as if I had set foot on Pandora and experienced another culture, another way of looking at the world... one that was far more in harmony with their planet than ours.

This was not just a movie... it was an EPIC... and I believed!

To James Cameron , I tip my hat for the 3rd time in my life. This movie not only pushed the boundaries of what has been possible up until now, it reminded me and scores of movie goers that the STORY matters. Just as he used a make-believe love story to bring home the tragedy of the Titanic’s sinking in a way that moved people to the core, this time he has crafted a story of how love can trancend even species and how the greedy, human “consumer” way of putting profit above all else is NOT the best for any species or any planet. If there is a world like Pandora out there, I hope that humans never discover it!

Like J.K Rowling , Stephenie Meyer , George Lucas , C.S. Lewis , Tolkein or any great storyteller, James Cameron has overseen something truly unique and original. It is SO powerful when someone puts their creativity out there for the world to enjoy... it changes us on a level that lingers with us for the rest of our lives.

To the many, many talented people who worked on creating this movie to bring it to life, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. You have reminded me of why I always wanted to draw pictures or tell stories. It is like holding a rainbow or lightning in your hand when you see the finished project... it takes your breath away and just leaves you saying...

“WOW!”

INHALE: I still feel out of breath from today’s experience. When I close my eyes, I can see some of the best scenes play out against my eyelids. I have already downloaded James Horner’s incredible soundtrack to my iPod and I can’t wait to see the film again with Nick. He had to go back to work today, but he will be my excuse to see it again at least one more time on the big screen.

EXHALE: The next time you have an idea that you are afraid to bring to life, remember that the first step in any magic, in any change, in anything becoming possible, is that you must say YES to the idea. Then you must do all of the hard workto bring that idea to life! Don’t be afraid of the work involved... of the sweat... of the way it will make you feel vulnerable. You may be the only one that can bring a certain vision to life for the world to enjoy. What dreams, stories, images have been hiding inside you, longing to be born but held prisoner by your own fears? Writing a few of them down may be the first step in saying YES to something incredible.

Savouring Creativity and Snowstorms...

2010-01-03T22:08:00.000-04:00

It was a WILD weekend of snow and rain and wind and flickering power and then more snow. It is only just ending, but instead of worrying, we took it all in stride and stayed indoors.

We played games as a family, took the tree down, tidied rooms in preparation for getting back to a routine this week, made our turkey carcass into soup and I wrote up some thank you cards to the many people who helped my family while I was away at my father’s funeral.

A New Year stretches before us full of creative possibilities, but we have to look for them, embrace them and take advantage of even the smallest moments.

I also have to learn not to be such a perfectionist! Bethany’s scarf is done and I’ll take a picture of it tomorrow as soon as my camera recharges fully. I took it along to New Year’s Eve celebrations at a friend’s house and left it in sleep mode rather than off, so it ran down.

Erin’s scarf is on it’s 3rd try because I was trying to find a pattern for her red wool that was different from her sister’s, but Yarn Harlot’s single row scarf has probably ruined me for most other scarf patterns. Sigh! Finally, Erin gave me this look tonight that said “Will you just make up your mind and knit something! School goes back on Wednesday and there is WAY too much snow out there now not to have a funky scarf!” (or at least that’s what I interpreted the look to say... it was during one of the intense battle scenes of the 3rd Lord of the Rings movie, so I can’t be sure I interpreted teenager glare right!

Mother Nature throws us all some challenges now and then. I must admit that even though Winter can last a bit too long sometimes in my part of the world, I love the fact that snowstorms can force us to just take a break from the business of life and stay in one place. Unlike tornadoes, droughts, hurricanes or mudslides, they aren’t that life threatening... just cold. Maybe we need to impose that kind of escapes for ourselves even when it isn’t due to a storm.

INHALE: I am sure that most of us now have a few new calendars hanging up in the house. I sat down to fill our Master calendar in the kitchen with all the appointments that have been piling up on bits of paper until I hung the new one and found myself getting very tense. So I got up and went looking for the beautiful gift my sister sent me, the Pathways to Peace calendar from Ministry of the Arts . Instead of places to write things, there are suggestions for each day filling up the squares. It is going to hang in my bedroom so that each day, I can look at the beautiful artwork and take those inspirational challenges or quotes with me into the day.

EXHALE: Find a colour of pen that you like and take a look at the month that stretches now before you. Where can you carve out some time for yourself? Time to spend with someone special? Time to indulge in a creative pastime that always seems to fall to the wayside because of chores and commitments. THIS is the year when you need to plan moments for yourself, even 15 minutes at a time. THIS is the year to embrace those opportunities, no matter how fleeting, whenever they present themselves. Go ahead and mark out your time now before the month fills up too quickly. You will feel SO much better for it. I know that I do!

Heading into a New Year Creatively...

2009-12-31T09:44:00.001-04:00

I love the day of New Year’s Eve. I got up early this morning and curled up on the couch to write in my journal by the light of the Christmas tree, enjoying the twinkle of the lights.

It has been almost 4 months of this adventure with more interruptions along the way than I’d expected, but bringing Creativity into my life on a daily basis has now become a way of life. I thought it might be funny to end 2009 with a look at some of the daily exercises I tried that DIDN’T work well enough to share them. Hope they put a smile on your face as we get ready to inhale the air of a brand new year!

1) Being creative with your socks. I wore 2 different socks to work to see if anyone would notice! Less than 1% of the kids and staff at school noticed. One student asked if I’d gotten dressed in the dark and several just looked at my with an “I hope I don’t get weird and senile like that when I am old!” look.

2) Using food colouring to change the colours of food like potatoes. DON’T! (Even the pictures looked too gross to put up on the site!)

3) Making an Acrostic with the letters of your name.

J-ust

E-xhuberant

N-ice

N-utty

I-maginative

F-riendly

E-xtroverted

R-eally not sure this is a good idea...

4) Finger painting with your feet. What was I thinking except to see if my toes had any talent. Artists are always worried about something happening to their hands... but I will NOT be learning to draw with my feel if that comes about. Luckily, I tried this one when the kids were out. I am sure they’d have been more talented, but the mess would have sent Nick into shock.

5) Writing Your Day as a Dr. Seuss Poem. “The last days of teaching before Christmas break, are filled with caffeine just for sanity’s sake. The students are bouncy and giddy with glee... I might as well try to nail slush to a tree!”

INHALE: We sometimes forget that in order to become more Creative, we have to try things that WON’T work in order to find what will. Thomas Edison is quoted as saying “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” For the rest of this adventure, I want to keep trying and possibly failing because the discoveries along the way will be more exciting than how often I succeed. I found this quote of his that will be one of my mantras for 2010:

“I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.”

EXHALE: If you can find a quiet moment in the chaos of the year’s ending, write a list of 3 things that you discovered about yourself this year, 3 things you’d like to change in yourself or the world around you in the New Year and write down 3 quotes that inspire you on the same page of your book or journal.

Then go quietly out into the last day of this year and celebrate it’s ending and all the new beginnings that stretch before us!

Overboard Cookie Decorating...

2009-12-27T15:17:00.000-04:00

We just can’t help it. Our family loves decorating cookies together. It’s just another way of drawing using different colours of edible products and blank cookies instead of crayons and paper.

Since cookies keep for a while when stored in airtight containers, I usually bake ahead and then we get out everything for a massive icing session while the Christmas playlist blares away on my iPod.

This year, we iced in two batches, one for the teachers a few days before I left for Dad’s funeral and then the last of the cookies on the same day we made our Gingerbread house as a family.

Royal icing powder from places like the Bulk Barn is great to use because it hardens so quickly. It also holds up well if you are packing a variety of cookies into a single tin or container. We usually make up two batches of white icing and then put food colouring into a variety of plastic bags to tint the white from there. Never use cheaper sandwich bags for this because the zip seal tops have a tendency to explode when you least expect them to. Snipping off a tiny corner of each bag allows for a fairly even flow of icing.

We also try to stick to similar shapes of cookies every year; gingerbread, sugar cookies and shortbread.

I tend to keep mine looking fairly consistent since I ice big batches on cookie sheets all at once...

The girls are fond of picking out a selection of cookies to ice individually for their teachers...

and Nick likes to make the really odd ones that we give to our closest friends.

Once everything is done, the pictures are taken, the cookies batched up and the best ones chosen for Santa’s plate, there’s really nothing left to do except the dishes... and plan for next year’s cookie extravaganza.

INHALE: It’s funny how many of our celebrations revolve around food. I used to feel guilty as a Weight Watchers leader about giving food as gifts. Now I understand that sometimes it’s not about quantity, but rather about quality and presentation. A small selection of hand decorated cookies makes a wonderful, caring gift even if it does contain calories. The girls get such a kick out of making them as well as presenting them to their teachers on the last day of school before the holidays. Handmade isn’t always cheaper or easier, but it can be a lot of fun!

EXHALE: Holiday baking is all done now. This post was originally going to appear before Christmas, but there are still ways to dream for next year. Where do you keep your favourite holiday recipes? If you have children, there are recipes that they will want to have later when they set out on their own to duplicate childhood memories in their own homes someday. Take a page in your book and write, sketch or doodle some of your earliest childhood memories about holiday baking. Try to capture the smells, the sights and above all.... try not to drool too much on the page!

There is Nothing Creative about Death... Except how you Celebrate Life

2009-12-23T18:38:00.003-04:00

Did I ever dream that when I began this adventure that almost 2 weeks would get swallowed up by pain and grief? My father passed away the day after my last blog entry and we got the news in the midst of volleyball championships and the night before our church pageant. I’d planned to blog about the backdrop I’d painted, the massive cookie icing we had planned as a family... and all of that just disappeared in the rush to book a last minute plane ticket to Tulsa for his funeral. I traveled as light as I could, left the laptop behind and wrote my thoughts out in my journal instead. From a blogger’s point of view, I fell of the face of the earth. From a daughter’s point of view, I went to honour my father’s life. From a dragon’s point of view, I crawled into a cave to lick my wounds. Time to step back out into the light.

Though I didn’t come up with an activity for myself each day, I still found that some of the key things I am learning on this adventure will now kick in automatically. There are three things that I can count on to help me relax no matter what life throws at me. The first is taking deep even breaths as I think “Inhale, Exhale, Inhale, Exhale” to myself, picturing the little green and blue icons I created for this site. The second one is finding any random patterned surface and looking for images. This worked well with tiles on airport washroom floors, stucco on hotel ceilings, carpet in church waiting rooms and clouds over unfamiliar cities. The third one is to open my sketchbook that travels everywhere with me and just let random words or images flow out through the pen and onto the paper. Sometimes it will start with an object I want to sketch and other times, the images are more iconic, drawn from memory rather than real life. All three of these automatically calm me down or give me something creative to focus on as an anchor.

This past week also taught me a lot about Celebrating a person’s Life even as you mourn the loss their Death creates. It was hard reconciling my memories with the person who meant so much to so many people in a city far away. It was important to be there to support his newest family as they grieved with the fresh loss but also the peace as Dad’s physical suffering ended. It was comforting to hear all of the stories of how my father touched the lives of the many families into which he delivered babies in a caring and prayerful way. It was healing to be able to hug siblings and spend time with them when we are usually scattered so far around the globe, sharing memories of Dad that were private to us.

Creativity surrounds us no matter where we go and what we face. We just have to look for it, reach out for it and draw it close for comfort and inspiration.

INHALE: Living Creatively teaches us to be better prepared for every adventure, even Death. Every project has an end. No project is perfect as we always seem to point out to those who compliment us. Creativity sometimes carries us to create things that are very different that what we first sat down to make, just as our lives sometimes take turns in directions we didn’t expect. Through it all, despite it all, Creative opportunities linger joyfully around us, hoping that we will chose to MAKE something, JOIN in the dance, WRITE to inspire ourselves or others, SING rather than remain silent and GIVE to the world instead of just taking. The choice is always ours.

EXHALE: Go looking for a photo of someone you loved who is no longer with you. Find a quiet spot and write down words or memories of what that person meant to you, how they helped you to grow, what you miss most about them and what special memories give you comfort even though they are gone. Celebrating someone’s life and how it touched you doesn’t just happen at a funeral or a memorial service... the very best of what someone brought to your life carries on within you for the rest of your days. Celebrate that gift.

Time For Some Holiday Fun...

2009-12-11T23:49:00.000-04:00

When I revamped my website last week, I added a contest for the holidays and linked it to my drawing blog . Since no one has been brave enough to enter the contest yet, I thought I would throw it out here for those of you who are trying to inhale a bit of Creativity.

This isn’t about drawing ability so much as ideas...

Are you up for some fun? Let’s see what some of you can come up with!

INHALE: The thing about taking chances or trying something new is that it can be scary. We are worried about how people may judge us. Today was report card day and Bethany was actually disappointed that she only had one A+ in a straight A report card! So often, we create impossible expectations in our heads that keep us from trying something because we are afraid to look foolish or to fail. The more I try to be Creative, the more I realize that failing is actually a necessary part of being Creative. It is only when you try something different or push the envelope that you may sail off in to brave, uncharted territories!

EXHALE: Today is easy. Print out the picture and doodle... colour it... turn it into a paper airplane. You don’t have to enter the contest if you don’t want to, you just have to play. We need to have more play and experimentation in our lives!

Trying Not to Hold My Breath...

2009-12-10T23:34:00.000-04:00

This is a time of year when the veil between Heaven and Earth thins a little. Everyone is rushing around preparing for the many celebrations that brighten this time of year. This weekend is going to be incredibly busy as so many obligations collide... and I keep catching myself holding my breath.

I do that while driving or as a passenger, especially now that snow has fallen, as cars cut each other off or run red lights in their hurry. The girls were disappointed that today wasn’t a snow day after the storm blew through to quickly... but I needed that day home alone.

I hold my breath to calm myself when a wave of anxiety about my father hits. When I exhale, I am reminded that there are things in this world over which I have no control. I can, however, try not to make myself turn blue or purple.

I hold my breath when I am excited. There will be plenty of that this weekend as Erin’s team plays in the Provincial Volleyball Finals to establish rankings for the year. When the score gets close, I am often so caught up in the volleys back and forth that I don’t breathe until someone scores a point!

I also find myself holding my breath sometimes while creating things. Today was all about getting angel costumes ready for Sunday’s pageant at church. Hemming was easy, but working with fabric paint and glitter requires steady hands... and sometimes holding your breath so that you don’t wobble.

My basement floor became the perfect place to let most of them dry overnight... as long as the rabbit doesn’t sneak out of her cage!

Every time I exhale after one of these moments, I am reminded of neat twist of fate that gave this blog its name. I thought I was being clever and creative, but little did I know how those simple images would come to mean to me on this 365 day journey. I can hardly believe it has been 3 months since the start of the adventure. There was so much more that I expected to have done by now! Through all of the fun and most of the chaos, thinking about ways to bring Creativity into my life has been a wonderful anchor. Maybe that’s what we need most when storms hit - an anchor or a safe harbour.

INHALE: If I have learned nothing else in the last 90 days, it has been that you cannot control everything in your life. The wonder of all of this is that you CAN control how you respond to what is thrown at you, especially when looking for Creative solutions. I haven’t always been successful in the past 3 months, but some of the strength I have gained along the way has been because of the effort more than because of the results. I’m learning to love the expression “Plan all the details, then go with the flow!”

EXHALE: There are SO many opportunities to get involved in something Creative during this time of year, especially in ways that help others. Can you knit mittens or scarves for a shelter? Take some toys to a hospital or youth charity? Buy an extra turkey for a family who may have none? Think about how you could stop holding your breath and just get out there to make a difference in one other person’s life. If nothing else, you’ll get so busy that you’ll forget about whether or not you should hold your breath and one other person’s life will be enriched!

Watching and Waiting...

2009-12-06T22:41:00.000-04:00

The first snowstorm of the season has left our city looking like a magical postcard. Everything is transformed into a winter wonderland where imperfections are covered up under the puffy whiteness of new beginnings. Right now, I feel like my life could use a blanket of that snow!

The past few days have been both busy and difficult ones. We have been preparing our house and our lives for Christmas, living with hope in our hearts and running the gauntlet of seasonal commitments... all the while knowing that the phone could ring any day to tell me that my father has lost his battle with cancer.

Every phone call has become something to treasure, even the awful, incoherent ones like this afternoon. Hearing his voice, however tired, means that I can still reach him on the other end of a phone line. Every chance I have to tell him that I love him is one more time that he will hear those words from my lips as well as from my heart.

Our Christmas tree is a mad celebration of homemade and purchased ornaments that stretch back all the way to the first ornament I stitched when I was a little girl who wanted to make a Mary for the tree.

I have cardinals and a banjo to remind me of my Bop and Jet, precious grandparents that I lost while still in my teens.

Talented friends have made many beautiful ornaments for me over the years... this is just the most recent one to grace this year’s tree...

or a carving from Debbie that will someday grace my daughter’s tree when she has a home of her own.

Every year I try to make a different ornament for friends and family, always keeping one for our tree, like this Santa from a few years ago.

Sometimes, like this year, Christmas can also be about preparing to say Goodbye.

This little bear graced the trees of my Childhood. Made of Chenille pipe cleaners, “Boris” has been slowly rusting and rotting away from the inside. Last year, I couldn’t bear to throw him out and put off the decision. This year, the analogy between an ornament and my father’s failing body seems almost too much to bear. (OK... that made me groan through my tears!)

We can be Creative in how we let go... as well as how we hold on to things.

INHALE: Some Inhales feel more shaky than others these days, but every moment still teaching me something when I let go and take time to feel things instead of staying numb and busy. As I was hanging my ornaments this year, I was aware of how my best friend is starting her tree over almost from scratch after losing everything in a fire last spring. Each one of my ornaments has a story and a legacy... but in the end, they are all just stuff. No matter what gets broken, lost, destroyed of thrown out, nothing can take away the memories that brought us joy. It is to that knowledge and hope that I cling to as I take each breath.

EXHALE: Create a new piece of history for your home, buy a new ornament that speaks to you, a new tablecloth to lay out or a new story of the holidays to read to children. Try a new cookie recipe to share with a friend. No matter which holiday you celebrate in this darkening time of year, add something new to your life this week. Take the time to LET GO of something else this week as well... a negative emotion or something broken that doesn’t work. When everything felt out of control today, I sat down and sorted the pen jar near the phone and threw out 6 of the pens that really didn’t work anymore. It felt surprisingly good.

Why Does Creativity Differ From Day to Day?

2009-12-01T21:53:00.000-04:00

There are times when Creativity just seems to flow as easily as breathing and other times when it moves slower than molasses on a -30 degree January night.

I fully intended to have the overhaul of my websites done during November... and yet every time I got a few minutes to work on the basic organization of it (as well as the look), something would happen or interrupt me.

Today, I finally got everything updated and even posted a contest on my Doodling Dragons blog . I put the best of my sketchbook pages on flickr so that I can link a slideshow to my websites. I mailed out an order to a distributor after batching everything. I am working on some Biology sheets with little drawings to help the struggling students.

Why does it still feel as if I am moving through quicksand?

INHALE: Perfectionism is something that I have struggled with all my life. Sometimes the voices offering advice were external, but mostly they are internal. The past few years have finally started to teach me that it isn’t so much about doing something perfectly, it is more about just doing it. Does is matter how fast a job gets done, how well a job gets done or just that the job gets done? The answer can be different at any given moment, but the trick is to make sure that you at least make an attempt. To do nothing does not help the world in any way.

EXHALE: If you find yourself making lists and checking them twice or marking way too many things on your calendar as we flip the page over to December, don’t forget to add some Creative doodles to lighten the mood. Your challenge today is to go online or into your local newspaper and find a cartoon that makes you laugh. Print it out or cut it out and paste it into your book to make you a smile anytime you return to that page.

Greeting Advent Creatively...

2009-11-28T22:57:00.001-04:00

Advent is one of my favourite season of the year. I love the very idea of preparing room, setting the scene for the magic of this season, acknowledging that the best gifts are not the ones that can be purchased.

When we tidied the shed a few weeks ago to bring the winter stuff forward and send the summer stuff back, I stared at the 5 green and red rubbermaid totes in anticipation. We put up the lights while it was still mild, but they only turned on for the first time tonight.

Part of the joy of unpacking familiar seasonal treasures is the sheer delight we can take in seeing them again. One of our Advent treasures is the Corner Santa carved for us by the talented Debbie Everett. She and my step-father’s brother, George Foster, are two incredibly creative people and we are lucky enough to have a treasure or two from each of them in our home. Debbie and George are both living proof that Creativity can grow and thrive without “formal” training. All that matters is that you explore the potential that lies within you, not how many hours of lessons you take! This Santa graces the corner by our front door every year, complete with his cross stitch stocking!

Getting ready for Advent also means adding Creative touches around the house. We have a garland that goes right on top of our usual cranberry coloured swag, tucking into the regular holders...

I fill the two low, white bowls that grace our table for every season with interesting shapes of holiday potpourri and pine cones...

and look around for spots in which to settle favourite treasures about the house.

This year I feel that I am preparing myself Creatively...both inside and out.

INHALE: Forget about rushing out to buy the perfect gifts. While retailers are yelling at us about great bargains and low prices, we need to find the time to centre ourselves. Some of the best gifts are the ones that money cannot buy. Some of the best memories are made when we least expect them. Instead of thinking how much you should spend, think about how you could practice your Creativity this holiday season so that those who mean the most to you know they are loved and cherished. It is not the cost of the gift that matters, it is the act of giving, especially Creatively, that brings us close to others.

EXHALE: What touch of colour, what scent, what sound can you savour today that will begin this process of preparing? Many cultures and faiths celebrate light in this time of darkness, contemplate the closing of one year and the beginning of the next. Down under, the longest day is celebrated instead of the darkest night. Find a bowl and fill it with holiday treasures, string up a ribbon on which to hang cards as they arrive or sit down and play that first playlist or CD of holiday favourites as you look through cookie recipes. The possibilities for being Creative, even amid all the business of the season are endless!

A Shout Out to Incredible Creativity..

2009-11-25T22:44:00.000-04:00

There are times when you discover something so beautiful and powerful that you just have to share it with others. My mom was at a workshop this weekend led by Jan Richardson. Her website and her blog offer a look into how she writes about her faith or creates powerful, beautiful images. She has the most incredible way of putting complex issues and ideas into words, living out her beliefs as well as inspiring others to explore and giving them ideas to try. As a preparation for Advent, she encouraged groups of people to explore while making images that fit each of the topics out of torn paper.

Can you tell that my Mom had fun playing?

I love looking at the textures and colours that she mixed as well as the unexpected shapes and images that form when you just give yourself over to something creative.

Being given the chance to play and explore is such a gift in itself.

How can you carve out a bit of time amid the chaos of this season to be Creative? The time will be well spent.

INHALE: When life gets busy or emotional, we have a tendency to hide, to make excuses, to avoid putting our own needs on the “to do” list, I think that we actually make things worse. Just as our bodies cannot go forever without rest, our spirits need Creative moments to restore them and keep them in balance. We need to Inhale our Creativity on a daily basis during busy seasons as well as quiet ones.

EXHALE: Almost everyone has a calendar or planning book where they keep track of their major appointments and events. Open yours and block off 2 half hour sessions sometime in the next week where you can be creative. Now find 3 fifteen minute blocks to look through magazines, fondle supplies, shop for ingredients or sort creative spaces. Shorter times can be just as valuable when we work them in. Aren’t you worth it?

Creativity in Chaos and Quiet..

2009-11-22T08:27:00.000-04:00

It’s been a busy time in our household. I am now substitute teaching 3 to 5 days a week until Christmas because of the 3 day a week position and other days that had been booked way ahead that I’d accepted. It is also volleyball season, so our whole family jumped in the van right after school on Friday and drove up to Bathurst , just over 2 hours away, to stay overnight before yesterday’s huge tournament. Erin’s team played an exhausting 13 games in the 9 hours of the tournament (winning 9 and loosing 4) going right down to a 15 point tiebreaker for 3rd place when both teams were literally falling down with exhaustion. Along the way they overcame some real challenges, played some truly beautiful volleyball and gave all the parents a lot to cheer for. I manages to knit scarves without too many changes in tension... though the metal needles got a little slippery when my palms got sweaty! I discovered that creating amid chaos and noise not only helps keep me calm, it gives me something to show for all those hours on the court side.

My mom was at a retreat all day yesterday entitled Making Way for Advent where she got to think, create and celebrate fellowship in far less noise. It was an event that I really wanted to attend, but I’d already missed 2 weekends of tournaments while teaching in Toronto and being at the cross stitch retreat a few weekends ago.

Don’t misunderstand. There is nothing wrong with any parent or person putting themselves first now and then to follow their dreams, conduct business or indulge in something they really need. Being a parent or being in a relationship with a partner (or both) means that you have to find the balance between the needs of self and the needs of the other(s). It means finding ways of being Creative whether you are in chaos or quiet. It means knowing that there can be a certain peace or satisfaction found in almost any moment of our lives if we start looking for them.

Just make your choices and go with them instead of looking over your shoulder or wondering what could have been.

Inhaling Creativity is teaching me to live in each moment more fully.

INHALE: I think that we need both Chaos and Quiet in which to create... just not at the same time. Anyone who has ever spent time at an event where people are being Creative knows that people with energy can get a little noisy. That energy can pump us up and push us on to new heights of inspiration and exhilaration when we understand that almost anything is possible. Quiet moments on the other hand, allow us to get in touch with our inner selves, recharge our batteries, sort through our supplies, organize our thoughts or creating spaces and dreams of next projects or possibilities. Nature reminds us all the time that both stages are part of the circle. As the Fall meanders slowly into Winter here and prepares for a sleep, I know that on the other side of the world, the frenzy of Spring is leading into the warmth of summer.

EXHALE: Many of us prefer one part of this cycle more than the other, even though both are necessary. Maybe I’ve been studying too many plant life cycles for the Biology class I am supervising with the diploid(2N) and haploid (N) stages of things, but it really rings true for me. Divide a page in your book in half and label the two sections QUIET and CHAOS. In each area, write down, doodle, collage or identify the things you like about each stage. What Creative acts do you like to do in chaos with others or what creative things do you like to do that involve chaos? What do you enjoy about having quiet time in which to create? Do some creative things lend themselves to being done in both quiet and chaos? Like discovering that you can actually enjoy using a colour you didn’t think you liked, you may find that there are quiet a few things about being Creative in Chaos or Quiet that you didn’t expect you enjoyed as much as you do!

Creativity in Teaching...

2009-11-17T23:16:00.000-04:00

When I first started this journey over 2 months ago, I never dreamed the many ways in which Creativity would show itself in my life. This Monday, I began a substitute teaching assignment to replace a teacher 3 days a week (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays) from now until the Christmas break. This offers me some predictability in my schedule and also give me some consistency in terms of the young people I am dealing with. I will be helping a student teacher cope with the teaching load for these classes and also working with struggling learners.

Creativity has its place in Education because we don’t all learn things in the same way. I went to a French high school in Montreal as a french immersion student and learned most of my courses in a language that wasn’t my mother tongue, so I learned a variety of ways to help myself understand. I drew pictures, made cartoons and graphed out charts or diagrams to help things make sense.

Tomorrow, I am bringing in our play dough so that the struggling students can BUILD a cell with all of the parts in different colours and shapes of play dough. I have also come up with a truly dorky rap song about how to learn the chain of plants from algae to bryophytes and tracheophytes (which include spore plants, gymnosperm and angiosperm). It should be interesting at least...if they don’t fall off their chairs laughing themselves silly!

Being Creative in how we teach ourselves to absorb information or learn new things can only enrich the experience...

INHALE: The more our society advances, the more we learn how different and individual each one of us is. We are all UNIQUE creations and yet society continues to expect us to behave “en masse” (rough translation- as a group). Maybe being 6’5” in my bare feet allows me to balk at being fit into a cookie-cutter, one size fits all mold, but I think we do ourselves an INJUSTICE when we expect everything to only go one way. It might be easier not to have to push the envelope, think outside the box or try new ways of doing something, but that does not mean we shouldn’t keep looking for NEW solutions to OLD problems.

EXHALE: Do you know what your own learning style is (or styles are)? Do you learn best when you hear something explained? See it done? Try it yourself? Take something apart and put it back together? Spend a few minutes thinking about this and doodle, write or jot down ideas about what WORKS for YOU in your notebook. The more you know what works best for you, the easier it is to be Creative within your own style of learning and share that with others to help them learn as well. Just because something works for someone else, does not mean it has to work for you, so keep searching until you find the key to your own puzzles. That way someday, you can help someone else unlock theirs!

Keeping My Hands Busy...

2009-11-14T21:46:00.000-04:00

It’s volleyball season. Today we were up in Richibucto for a tournament just under an hour away from our own city. Our 15U team entered a 16U tournament for some more experience against older girls and they made the semifinals but lost to the top team at the tournament. I was really proud that this time they didn’t give up and kept fighting right until the bitter end.

I knit by feel, so it is the perfect way to keep my hands busy on the drive to tournaments and also during the games. I can watch the action and because the needles are in my hands, I can’t bite my nails. I’ve even discovered that the needles make great defensive weapons... though I have yet to skewer a volleyball!

Since my youngest, Bethany was also the only grade 5 to make her school team, I will be doing a lot of knitting and driving between now and Christmas. Today I finished up a lovely moss stitch scarf in a soft shade of green...

worked a bit more on Bethany’s scarf during the drive home since this pattern does require a tiny bit of concentration...

darned in the ends of a scarf made from a wool that creates its own patterns...

and started a new scarf of lovely blues and purples for one of the newest members of the team.

I came home with a full set of fingernails... but I still need to learn how not to hold my breath for such a long time when the games get tense! I sometimes forget to INHALE...

INHALE: Keeping busy with being creative can be very therapeutic. It can help lower our stress levels, keep our hands out of the snack foods, give us something to show for our time and create things of beauty as well. This time of year, it never hurts to have extra crafts on hand to give away as hostess gifts, teacher presents, thank you gifts etc. For most of us, the fun is in first creating something and then watching someone else take pleasure in what our hands and souls brought to life.

EXHALE: The thing about being Creative is that there are weeks and days when you have to make the opportunities as plentiful as possible. Though Nick jokes about me being a “bag lady”, I have several bags ready to go with me in the car on any given trip. I sort knitting projects into clear bags, tuck various sizes of needles and always bring along a few options in case I finish something or get bored with a project. Think about what crafts you do that you could bring with you to doctor’s offices, meetings or on car trips and organize a few into a nice tote or bag so that the next time you race out the door, you have something to help keep your hands busy when the going gets tough or when you need to wait.

Savouring A Couple’s Creativity...

2009-11-11T22:00:00.001-04:00

Last spring, our family got a terrifying call. Our best friends’ barbecue blew up and engulfed their whole house in flames. In one evening, their lives were turned upside down and their cats perished along with most of their personal belongings... but they had their dog and each other.

Tonight, our family took supper over to their new house, rebuilt on the foundations of their old one. They moved in this past weekend and are slowly trying to unpack what was restored, put away what people donated and see what is left to buy. Imagine starting over from scratch for every towel, every sheet... everything!

So we shared a meal in their new house which has echoes of all they loved best about the old one. Everything is new, everything gleams, but what trials and tribulations they had to go through to get them and get to this point.

The house is a wonderful blend of their unique colour sense and love of textures. They spent hours and hours pouring over every detail of their plans, took the time to select what they truly wanted and it showed. From the amazing bar of lights and crystal prisms over the dining room table to the incredible fold out coffee table where we will no doubt spend lots of time gathered to roll 20 sided dice.

I am SO glad to see them back where they belong.

INHALE: Creativity can sometimes be making something beautiful rise out of the ashes of disaster. When life throws its very worst at us, there are still moments when we can celebrate what IS going right or just keep putting one foot in front of the other until we move through the dark times and back out into the light.

EXHALE: Open your book and trace your foot onto the page. I had to put my foot on the diagonal to get it to fit properly and I decided to leave my socks on to just get a basic foot shape. Now, fill the shape of your foot with images, words, doodles, colours, scribbles, collage materials or anything that tempts you but move from DARK in the heel of the foot towards LIGHT in the toes. Our lives are a series of steps from tragedy to triumph, night to day, challenge to victory and darkness into light. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other!

Improvisational Creativity...

2009-11-08T22:50:00.000-04:00

I'm home from a wonderful weekend of fellowship and cross stitch, but I did learn that sometimes, you have to improvise your creativity when you don't have all the pieces you need.

I’d fully intended to give away the Perforated Paper Castle ornament that I taught in Toronto, but the more people asked to see it and exclaimed over it, the more I decided it needed to stay on MY tree. Stitchers will be able to get that pattern after December 1st on PatternsOnline.com , so hang in there! Luckily, Jeannie had brought along some colours of perforated paper for me to play with. Unfortunately, after a full day of teaching, picking up Bethany from volleyball practice, Nick from school and then rushing to get to retreat in bad weather, I forgot the sheets of blank graph paper that I usually bring along with me...

So I made my own.

Next year, I will remember to put that on my packing list, slow down and check what I have before I race out the door or end up bringing an entire ream of graph paper along just so I don't have to make grids like this again. At least I know I can make one without a computer!

FIrst, I sketched out the letters for JOY and stitched them in overdyed threads on the white paper. Then, I flipped the paper over, borrowed a pencil from Mom and began to figure out how to create a geometric snowflake shape around the word.

I am not the most math gifted person. There was much erasing and slightly colourful language used when I realized that I couldn't get things to work out PERFECTLY... but I took my own posts about perfection to heart. So what if I had to fudge things a tiny bit near the end... I know where the glitch is, but I'm not going to point it out! Eventually, the snowflake shape was ready for me to cut out. I LOVE perforated paper!!!

When I flipped the design to the right side, I discovered that one section had a bit too much white space for my liking, so I added a holly button from the shop. I also thought it might be nice to add some braid and beads to catch the lights from the tree.

Then I made my own cording for the top then hung it on the tree for the ornament exchange!!

INHALE: If we wait for the perfect moment when we have all our supplies around us and everything is just right, then we will have far less moments in which to be creative. This is what I was trying to find more of during my year long adventure... ways of just jumping into the deep end and mucking about to see what I could come up with. No, I didn't have everything I needed or hoped to have with me, but the Creativity didn't need them. It just needed me to be willing to try and work with what I had on hand. How many missed moments go by because we tell ourselves "Wait, I'm not ready!!" ??

EXHALE: Find another crafter that you trust. Decide to try this challenge together and see what happens. Set a date when the two of you can get together for some uninterrupted creativity time. Mark it on the calendar and then get ready with this homework before hand. Each of you should choose a variety of interesting craft items or items related to the hobby you both enjoy. Limit it to less than 10. Put the items in a bag that you cannot see through. When you get together, exchange bags, settle down and see what each of you can create with these mystery items within an agreed upon time limit. It doesn't have to be perfect or beautiful or even something you keep. You just have to be wiling to try... and laugh... and enjoy each other's company while you see where your Creativity takes you. I can't wait to see what some of you come up with!

Creative Retreating...

2009-11-05T22:23:00.000-04:00

I am getting excited! Despite the forecast calling for a bit of snow overnight, I am mostly packed for the cross stitch retreat up at Camp Wildwood this weekend. I can’t wait to sneak off with my Mom for a weekend of roughing it and also getting away from it all.

Don’t worry if you don’t hear from me. My laptop is staying behind but the camera is coming.

You see, for most of my cross stitch designing career, this is the weekend that I get to go away and NOT be a designer. Ok... you can’t really shut that off, but I get to go stitch OTHER people’s designs, hang with stitchers who really know me or just PLAY to invent a one of a kind ornament for the exchange. I can nap if I want to, go for a walk if I want to, journal and sketch or just sit and stitch for ages with some of the nicest people on this planet in a beautiful main lodge while someone else cooks all my meals.

Can you see why I am getting excited?

No phone

No kids

No husband

No laundry

No computer

Ahhhhhhh!

I’ve packed WAY more projects than I will have time to get to and I always get a bit cold because I pull my mattress down onto the floor. At 6’5” in my bare feet, WAY too much of me hangs over the edge on their bunk beds!

Wheee! 24 hours from now, I will be away from it all for the weekend. I can’t wait!

INHALE: Retreats are great if you can find one to attend. It can be hard to put yourself first and leave other responsibilities behind, but we usually come back from such a retreat feeling SO recharged and reinspired. Don’t be afraid to be a little selfish now and then. If you always put yourself last and do for others, you forget to take care of the person in whose skin you actually live! Love yourself enough to make time for yourself!

EXHALE: Maybe you can’t take part in a retreat, but you can still block time off for yourself. Open a blank page in your book and write down something you’d love to do if you had each of the following time segments available. Now pick ONE of them that you would MOST like to do and schedule it into your calendar sometime in the next 2 weeks. Go ahead... you deserve it!

If I had an extra 30 minutes to myself, I would:

If I had an extra hour to myself, I would:

If I had an extra 3 hours to myself, I would:

If I had an extra morning to myself, I would:

If I had an extra day to myself, I would:

If I had an extra weekend to myself, I would:

There’s No Such Thing As TOO MANY Choices...

2009-11-03T23:34:00.000-04:00

Bethany’s fever is gone. Her temperature was normal all day so I made her have a long, steamy bath to help her cough and wash her hair then stripped her bed and washed the sheets along with her jammies. She was finally allowed out of her room and almost couldn’t decide what to do first. I made the choice easy... finish up the school work you missed, then you can play now that you’re feeling better.

I may be Creative... but I am still a MOM!

Tonight, I needed a bit of colouring therapy, but the last time I had my poster out, I found myself bothered by the fact that the set only came with these colours.

So... I went on a hunt and found THESE...

There can’t possibly be anything bad about having 50 colours to choose from instead of just 10, can there? Only that it makes me wonder where to begin!

So I picked out a section of the border that I’d been eyeing for a while and began to colour. I even added some shading detail because flat colour sort of blended together a bit too much.

As that section began to fill in, the colours really started to jump...

and when it was all done, the contrast of the black with the inner colours made it almost SING.

Nope, there’s definitely no such thing as having too many choices!

INHALE: We all have countless choices to make each and ever day. Eat the apple or the cookie, get out of bed or hide, speed up for the yellow light or slow down, take the stairs or the elevator... the possibilities are almost endless. Sometimes, the sheer amount of choice we have can seem overwhelming... until we remember that another name for it is FREEDOM!

EXHALE: If you like to draw, go buy yourself a new pencil, crayon or marker set and revel in the amount of colours to choose from. If you like to cook, go buy a few new spices to play with. If you like to craft, go explore the aisles and sale bins until you find pieces for your next project. If you love music, check out a few new tunes outside your usual genre, but be sure to download them legally. (iTunes Genius feature has let me discover new songs I might otherwise never have heard) Find a way to add even more choices to your chosen path of Creativity. Your day will be richer for it, even if it takes you a bit longer to make up your mind where to begin!

Tearing Down to Create Again...

2009-11-02T22:16:00.001-04:00

Today, one of the Creative women I admire most took the courageous step of announcing that she was closing down her cross stitch design business. Sometimes you have to end something in order to create something new.

Teresa and I met through cross stitch just over a decade ago, but we quickly formed a friendship that went beyond just working in the same industry. As cross stitch began to falter, she and I began to act as sounding boards for each other and talk about if and how we could take our Creativity in other directions.

Four years ago, we went to Dragon*Con in Atlanta to see if we wanted to transition into Fantasy artwork on the con circuit. She also helped paint me green for my She-Hulk adventure as mentioned in yesterday’s post. Last February, we went to the SCBWI conference in New York together to see if children’s book illustration would offer new possibilities.

The joy of having her as a friend is that we share some of the same hopes and insecurities, interests and insights as well as quests and questions. While we have very different styles, we both feel called to continue to share our Creativity with the world... we’re just still trying to find the next way to do that!

I do know that the past 5 years would have been a lot more scary and stressful without her encouragement, support and sense of humour.

I stayed home today to take care of Bethany who is still running a fe er. I also got up the courage to tackle a demolition of my own. A year ago, I overhauled my Dragon Dreams website to reflect the change my artwork was taking as I honoured the 98 published cross stitch designs that I had created, but also tried to showcase the different directions I was heading in. Then I created a separate website for illustration once I got feedback that Art Directors don’t have time to sift through intensive sites looking for your artwork.

I’ve limped along since then feeling very fragmented and slightly confused at how to make things better. Today, I realized that the only way to rework the site was to start over from the very beginning, look at what works, get rid of what doesn’t and focus on what truly needs to be covered by the website while making it an informative place to visit.

I am in the middle of the destruction and rebuilding process, but I am actually pleased at how well it is turning out. I'll post on my blogs as soon as the new site is uploaded.

INHALE: Sometimes we have to rebuild from the ashes as friends of ours have done with their house, shut down a business to start in a new direction, crumple up a drawing that isn’t working or go back to the beginning and start over. Any Creative person, crafter or artist has experienced this more than once. I’m not sure it ever gets any easier, but I am finally learning to trust that something even better may come from drastic measures.

EXHALE: I tried to explore today's topic in a fun way. Find a few magazines for images or inspirational photos. Instead of trimming them carefully with scissors, rip and tear them out then glue them into your book so that they overlap and create a collage background (you can leave white spaces). Next, write some words over the images or around them that add to your Creative inspiration. If this seems too time-consuming for your hectic day, try a simpler exhale: crumple a plain piece of paper and then smooth it out again then draw or write a message to yourself on the less than perfect paper as a reminder that we often set ridiculous standards for ourselves.

Creativity amid more Chaos...

2009-11-01T22:51:00.000-04:00

The thing about knowing I am living this journey is that it sustains me even when life gets so chaotic that I cannot post. I meant to post about our Hallowe’en creativity on Friday night or Saturday, but the weekend ended up being far different that we expected when Bethany began to run a high fever on Saturday afternoon along with her cough. We’ve kept her in isolation at home and treated her with medicine to reduce the fever which seems to be working for now as we keep a close eye on her. GIven all the fear about the H1N1 pandemic, we are being cautious and vigilant, hoping that it is some other germ in our house.

Thursday night, Bethany had a Hallowe’en dance at her school. She dressed up as a rock star and spent two hours dancing or talking with her friends.

Friday was a fun but tiring day. I was teaching at Harrison Trimble for the 4th day that week and everyone was encouraged to dress in costume. Erin went as a fairy GOTHmother and I dressed up as a zombie, thinning out the make-up I used for She-Hulk and using the same wig, I ripped up one of Nick’s oldest shirts and made a very scary impression on a lot of the high school kids. Imagine coming around a corner in a hurry and running into 6’5” of zombie teacher! For an extrovert who loves playing up on my inches, I was having a blast!

After school, we went to pick up Bethany at her school and watch the last minutes of her volleyball tryouts. She’d had a sock hop in the afternoon and then the tryouts, so she was feeling a bit tired as we headed home to change both girls into their costumes for working up at Magnetic Hill’s fundraiser that evening. Boo at the School meant that the entire gym of Nick’s school had been transformed into a spook walk as a fundraiser for the Grade 8 class trip at the end of the year. There was a bake sale, a BBQ, some other sales and the spook walk. Erin was dressed up as an old fashioned school teacher in pioneer dress teaching a class of zombie children to repeat words like disembowel. Bethany dressed up in her Dorothy costume and played hopscotch in the “graveyard”. Nick was the Frankenstein principal asking people for their hall passes and I helped a witch greet people at the door and break them into groups. For the first 2 hours, everyone was fairly enthusiastic, but in the 3rd hour, it got a little harder to stay “fresh” at their roles. Bethany seemed especially tired, but I chalked it up to her busy day. I drove the girls home as soon as things were over then came back up to help Nick and the parents take everything down in the gym. She seemed fine when she posed for this picture after stealing Dad’s headgear...

By 10:30 the next morning, we were back at the school for a volleyball match between Erin’s 15U team and the 16U team in the Roofers club she belongs to. It was great volleyball and each team won 2 matches, but Bethany seemed really tired and whiny. We got her some soup for lunch and pot stickers at our favourite restaurant Happy Wok and then headed home. She fell asleep for 2 hours and when she woke up, she was flushed and burning up with a fever of almost 102! Needless to say, my thoughts of writing everything up as the blog post went out the window...

The fever comes and goes, so she will be home with me tomorrow. No doubt my creativity will be put towards keeping a sick daughter entertained in her room.

INHALE: In our busy, modern day world, we sometimes feel as if we are expected to keep going no matter what. If we are sick, we take a pill or something. If this flu season is teaching us ANYTHING, it is reminding us of the need to listen to our bodies when they get sick or tired and grant them time to heal, time to get better and time to keep our germs to ourselves.

EXHALE: One of the ways you can enjoy a bit of tasty Creativity even when you aren’t sick is to find a warm drink that you enjoy. There are many wonderful herbal tea blends out there to sample, cider to warm with cranberries and cinnamon or a splash of orange juice. My stepfather, John, has been playing with ways to make his own really chocolaty cocoa drink that has less artificial ingredients than some of the powders out there. Sniff a few herbal tea boxes in the grocery aisles or delight in the artwork and creativity of the many Celestial Seasonings blends. Their box artwork and creative copy are almost as lovely as the teas themselves. Tazo ’s chai flavour has been another favourite of mine for a few years, especially with a splash of skim milk. Miso soup is another wonderful warm drink. Some cultures swear by a crushed garlic clove in hot water to fend of germs and there is always the traditional chicken noodle soup. Whatever you choose as your warm drink, wrap your hands around a great mug and sit quietly for a few minutes to sip some stillness along with your beverage. The world will still be waiting when your mug is done.

Playing and Enjoying Mindless Creativity...

2009-10-28T22:53:00.000-03:00

I booked off today. After teaching for 2 days and getting a call to substitute teach for tomorrow and Friday, I decided last night that I needed a day to catch up on laundry, cooking, sketching and the piles on my desk. A few weeks ago, we bought 10 lbs. of beets and tucked them in our cold storage area down in the basement. Nick and I love beets, but 10 lbs. is a LOT of beets, especially since both of my girls are rather iffy about them. There were also bits and pieces of other veggies in the fridge to use up, so once the girls got home and started in on homework, I decided to make a huge pot of veggie soup and process the beets.

My cookbooks all explained how much easier beets were to peel once they’d been cooked or steamed. “The peels will just slide off!” they promised. Remembering earlier attempts to make borscht a few years ago where my hands were stained pink for weeks from peeling piles of beets, I was ready to try another technique.

Along the way, as I stood at my sink rubbing the peel off cooked beets and staring into a huge pot of blood red water, I started getting crazy, creative ideas, especially when Erin wandered by and said “Cool! Didn’t they used to dye things red with beets?”

Reaching up into the cupboard, I found a rather old dishcloth I’d knitted about 6 months ago. (I knit a LOT of these on car trips!)

I decided to throw it into the pot to soak as I scrubbed the peels off the beets.

When I was almost done with the beets, I decided to peek at the cloth. What a colour change!

Dumping all that colour down the sink was “Creepy Cool” according to the girls because it looked like blood! Can you tell they are SO ready for Hallowe’en?

Of course, without a setting agent, the dye didn’t really stay long in the dishcloth. I decided to toss it out with the scraps rather than put it in the wash and risk turning socks or underwear pink.

With all the beets processed into freezer bags or made into beet salad, it was time to relax for a while and enjoy someone else’s Creativity.

I used to fill in doodle posters like these all the time as a kid. I bought one a few years ago and rediscovered it today while tidying my office. There is something incredibly soothing about colouring in a few shapes at a time and watching the colours play with each other as the design begins to come to life. I still have a LOT of white space to fill, but it was FUN... and that’s what this adventure has been all about... finding more ways to add fun and creativity to each day.

INHALE: The Amish take delight in treating every task as important and worthy of doing to the best of your ability. By playing and being a bit off the wall, the job of peeling and chopping up 10 lbs of beets became less tedious and more of an adventure. I don’t think I will ever find a way to make chores like dusting feel Creative (though I’ve been known to doodle things in the dust when it gets really thick!) but for today, the challenge of looking for Creativity worked, then I got to take great delight in enjoying someone ELSE’s creation. All I had to do was colour in the shapes!

EXHALE: When was the last time you bought a colouring book, doodle poster or printed out a mandala to colour? Try to find one that makes your fingers itch to play with a new box of crayons or package of markers and keep it handy so that the next time you are talking on the phone, helping a child with homework, relaxing before bed or even watching television, you can colour in the next page or section of your project and have something Creative to show for your time instead of wondering where the hours went.

Battling with Boa... or Knowing When KNOT to Continue...

2009-10-26T20:10:00.000-03:00

I have to laugh now and make this into a horrible pun. Last night at midnight, there was nothing funny about wool wrangling. The yarn known as BOA to be exact. It’s not wool and never will be. Think of it as a long string of pretty colours that looks ever so much like eyelashes.

After showing off my half completed scarf that absolutely dazzled non-knitters, the time came to change to the next 2 balls of yarn and complete the scarf. The only problem was that the second ball of Boa did not lie placidly and cooperatively in my knitting bag. It did not blend beautifully and play nice with the other yarn... it turn into an evil tangle.

“Fine!” I thought to myself. After a day of worrying about a friend and dealing with the oxymoron of Church politics, I was sure that Creativity was telling me to turn this into a wonderful blog entry about patience and persistence.... that when life got tangled, you were supposed to just take your time and try to sort things out.

So when my yarn began to do THIS around 9 pm and The Amazing Race came on, I wasn’t too nervous, I just began to try to sort through the tangle.

By 10 :15, I was making a bit of progress after the yarn decided to do THIS, but my husband gave up and headed to bed. The house grew still after I turned the TV off to sit alone with my thoughts. I love the sound of a quiet house when my family is sleeping upstairs. It reminds me of MANY nights I spent working from 9 pm to 1 am when the kids were young on designing and graphics because that was the only time I could work on the computer uninterrupted.

I did think a lot about life and how things can snarl up or get complicated to quickly. I thought about how sometimes everything goes so smoothly and other times it become this incredible, impassible tangle that we begin to dread dealing with. I had all kinds of lovely meditations planned as I sat there trying to unknot my yarn that kept snarling into clumps like THIS.

The problem with me is that I tend to get a wee bit.... hmm... STUBBORN, FIXATED and OBSESSIVE are probably the kindest words that I can think of. You see, I’d basically decided that this would make such a wonderful blog entry as soon as I had a nice, neat, tangle-free ball of boa to show you.

The yarn had other plans... devious plans that increased in their complexity as the clock drew closer to midnight...

(OK... most of you would have gone to bed or played Farmville by now, but I did share that I can be a wee bit stubborn, right?)

Finally, as the clock struck midnight, I used some very colourful words and decided to salvage what I could of my yarn mess.

Tiny boa balls....

Tying them into one ball, knowing I can hide the knots in the scarf or keep them to the side and darn in the ends as I get to them, I took one last picture and headed off to bed just before 12:30 am.

What did I learn? Next time, be quicker to pick up the scissors... or if Boa is on sale for less than a dollar, buy a third ball just in case one becomes uncooperative. Let the cat have the one that refuses to play nice!

INHALE: So often, we fall into the trap of wanting everything to go a certain way. We get an idea in our mind of how something should unfold and leap merrily out into that adventure, even when Life, timing, circumstances or the Universe try to gently tell us that maybe we aren’t thinking things through. Learn when to follow a vision and when you should adapt your great plan to get to bed at a reasonable hour!

EXHALE: Inspired by my yarn disaster, this exhale is FUN. Open your sketchbook or take out a blank page of paper. You might want to put a paper underneath to keep everything safe! Closing your eyes, scribble all over that paper in big, swirly, loopy tangles. When you think you’ve made plenty of lines, open your eyes and check to see if you stayed on the paper. Take out some of your favourite colours (or some of the ones you’ve been challenging yourself with) and color in any of the shapes in the tangle that catch your fancy. You can try to see if you find any shapes in your scribbles or just enjoy colouring at random. Think of me and the yarn as you color.

Watching Creativity Blossom...

2009-10-24T22:24:00.000-03:00

Oddly enough, today’s adventure in Creativity wasn’t really about me. For the first time in three weeks, I had the luxury of walking up without an alarm clock or a full schedule. There was no company coming for a holiday meal, no needlework classes to teach and my only commitment today was to make sure that Bethany got home from the sleep-over and over to another party at supper time. I felt almost giddy at the freedom, despite the grey, cold rain outside.

Erin is in the midst of volleyball season and her first high school midterms are approaching rapidly. Her music teacher assigned a huge project due this coming week as a group project and Erin found out Thursday that her partner had to leave for Ontario to attend a family funeral. Yesterday, she was handed a few sheets of information and the burden of assembling it was left on her shoulders.

There’s something amazing about being a parent when your kids suddenly show you that they’ve actually listened to you and learned from you over the years. Instead of just typing up the usual report or putting together a Power Point presentation, Erin decided to play with some of the fluorescent card stock I have in the office. Since their musical assignment was 1960 - 1964, Erin is assembling the information on various 60s coloured sheets which she will then punch holes in and lace together to create a type of accordion book display. She did one of these in Grade 4 for a project on beavers and remembered how much fun it had been to plan and assemble.

Instead of freaking out, getting angry or avoiding the task, she chose to dive in and have some fun with the task.

Creativity wins out over complaining any day. How cool is it to learn from your kids?

INHALE: There are tasks in our life that we find difficult or may not enjoy. There are also things we need to do that will be a lot of work. Yet, every task also offers the chance to be creative and have some fun with it if we just look at things from a slightly different angle. Taking that moment to think “outside the box” is what produces such creative results... projects, tasks or presentations that will jump out from the others because they take an unexpected approach. Creativity is also fun and when you are having fun with something, even if it is a lot of work, it shows in the final results.

EXHALE: Is there anything that you’ve been putting off? Avoiding because it seems like too big a project? Is there a task you need to do where you’ve been tempted to do the bare minimum or find the quickest way to get it done instead of a creative one? Think about whether or not you could approach this challenge from another angle that would make getting the job done more interesting or more enjoyable. If you don’t have a big job to tackle, start with something smaller. We bought a set of new glasses today since our tall tumblers were down to 4 glasses from a mishmash of different sets. Though I was tempted to hang on to my favourite one, it made more sense to get rid of the others and have a set of 12 that matched.

Freaking Non-Knitters Out...

2009-10-22T21:55:00.000-03:00

Yesterday’s Inhale and Exhale wouldn’t post properly, so I will try to add them in a post edit. There are days when it won’t let me make the icons as small as usual as well, so I am learning to go with the flow and tame my inner perfectionist.

I also posted about the two scarves that I’ve been working on since acquiring new wool in Toronto. If I hadn’t been teaching classes there and staying up so late at night, but the weather is getting cold since my return home as well, so the urge to knit new things for my neck is just too strong to ignore.

When I worked on this one in the staff room at lunch yesterday, I had several people come over to feel the combination of the two yarns put together. I also had a few teachers ask me how many things I knit in a year. This might be because I’ve already knit 3 baby blankets for half of the staff that is pregnant and they’ve also seen me working on my socks. I don’t think I’ve ever kept track of the number of projects I knit in a year.

I also took out the scarf during Guided Study period. This is a half an hour period for enrichment, extra help or catching up on homework that changes every 5 or 6 weeks as the marks are handed in by teachers and students who are struggling or excelling are identified. I’d planned to read a bit since every student who doesn’t have work to do is encouraged to bring a book, but I realized that I couldn’t keep an eye on the entire class that way. Hence the knitting. I knit by feel. I’ve always been able to handle basic knitting stitches (anything short of cables and patterns with lots of counting) without looking since University when I would knit and study or knit and watch TV. This has come in handy when I’ve had to divide movies into which ones I need to watch (knit) and which ones I can listen to while glancing up now and then (stitch). It also keeps me from being a nagging passenger on long car trips and I can knit in the dark if I have to talk to Nick to keep him awake at the end of a long journey. It is also really good for freaking high school kids out.

I began to knit while the kids were working on their projects. Every now, one of the teenagers would glance up and find me watching them while my hands knit. Whispers began, nudges as I continued to glance around the room surveying them. Finally, one brave girl put up her hand and spoke. “Excuse me, miss, are you doing that without looking down at it?” I just grinned and nodded.

Who says knitting is boring!

Even when you are fairly well practiced at a skill, you can also continue to learn and be inspired. While I was up in Toronto, I found this wool for Bethany that brings a hint of orange into the blue, white and pink mix. The soft colours will be perfect for her and they also tied in nicely with my “use more of the colour you like the least” challenge. By now, I am actually growing a little fond of orange.

While I was in Toronto, Jocelyne was knitting a cool scarf pattern before one of the classes. When I commented on the pattern, she showed me how it was a short pattern that you repeated on EVERY row until you either ran out of wool or got sick of knitting the scarf. You can find it on Yarn Harlot’s website here . This is what mine is starting to look like:

Go ahead... practice being Creative in public and see what happens!

INHALE: Being Creative in new ways or learning a new variation of a skill we already posses can bring a deep enjoyment into our lives along with an excitement that keeps us hooked. When things become routine and predictable, they can also become boring. I don’t ever want what I create to bore me. If it does, then it’s time to find something new to try.

EXHALE: Which hobby, craft or skill do you feel most confident in? It may be one that you have practiced for a long time or one in which you developed a sense of mastery quickly. In order to keep this well-practiced skill from growing stale, try one of the following. Try starting something that you have never attempted before (a new style of pattern, a new stitch, a different technique). Visit a craft store, website or guild meeting where you could learn from someone else who practices this skill and get inspired. Look through books and dare to try something you think might be too hard for you. When we push ourselves, we can grow. Or, find something new that absolutely delights you, as I did with this scarf pattern and savour the new experience.

Another Experiment with Orange...

2009-10-21T22:07:00.001-03:00

After a very FULL day of substitute teaching, I needed a bit of fun tonight, so Bethany and I got out the Fimo and Sculpey . I decided to play a bit with the bright orange colour and made this tiny pumpkin bead.

Next, I tried to take some of the blues that I loved and work in a strip of orange, just like I did with the friendship bracelet at the beginning of this exploration.

Once I had my strips, I braided and rolled them into a ball.

Next I pressed them into a firm ball to marbleize it a bit.

I took chunks off and rolled them into bead shapes with their hints of orange like lightning through the blue...

Then set everything out on some foil to bake.

Erin was so intrigued by the process that she made some beads of her own in her school colours. Creativity really is contagious!

Tomorrow, I’’ll show off the two scarves that had the staff room at Erin’s high school asking how many projects I knit a year. One pattern, created by Yarn Harlot , is incredibly addictive and was taught to me this weekend by one of the stitchers in a class. Yes, Jocelyn, this new addiction is YOUR fault!!

INHALE: Even after a demanding day, taking the time to be Creative instead of just sitting passively to watch television can help recharge something deep inside each one of us. When Life gets hectic, we are sometimes tempted to cut out indulgences, but those are often the things that help us feel more rested and grounded. I actually went to bed feeling far less tired than when I began to make the beads.

EXHALE: If you don’t feel like buying some clay to explore bead making, find another small craft that you could do to help you relax the next time you have a hectic day. Tuck it somewhere in your kitchen cupboard or keep it close at hand so that you don’t have to go hunting when you need it. Don’t feel guilty about taking time for yourself when you do your craft... you may just discover other members of your family sitting down to join you!

Back Home Again...

2009-10-19T22:48:00.000-03:00

Does anyone else have trouble coming back from a trip and getting back into a routine? I think the most creative thing that I did today was dream. I went back to bed on a grey rainy day as soon as I got the girls onto their school bus to catch up on some of the hours of sleep that I missed at the CreativFestival this weekend.

The day after the festival is usually a quiet one if I can help it, but today wasn’t all that quiet. Nick came home sick from work today. He and Erin seem to be coming down with a nasty cold that I am hoping Bethany and I can avoid catching! My main computer was also acting a bit wonky, so I had to run a check on it. I am sure that I am not alone in finding the transition back to reality a little abrupt by bedtime tonight! There must have been tired but happy stitchers, quilters, beaders and even exhibitors all trying to get back into the routine of their daily lives today.

The thing about a creative weekend is that you bring a bit of that magic along with you, in memories, inspiration and projects to work on until your next escape. I am learning how important and satisfying that daily search for creativity can be, even if it does seem buried under the laundry I had to do and the supplies I needed to get out of the suitcases and back into my office!

INHALE: We sometimes think that Creative projects have to be big and glorious, intricate and innovative. Little ways to add something creative you our daily lives can also be just as magical, especially if they are quick, easy and unexpected. Don’t always try to take on something hugely creative when something small will do just as well.

EXHALE: In the next few days, find tiny ways of being more Creative for someone ELSE in your life. Write a note on a napkin for your child’s lunch box, slip a note with a silly joke or nice compliment into your spouse’s briefcase or wallet so that they find when they least expect it or pin up a crazy Internet cartoon in the staff bathroom where you work. Giving other people a smile or brightening their day is not only Creative, it makes others feel better about themselves and this world.

Surrounded by Creativity...

2009-10-17T09:19:00.000-03:00

It’s been hard to blog, even though I had to add Internet access to the room in order to get Teresa’s files up here safely and ask her the occasional question as she gets over the nasty flu that kept her from coming to the show in Toronto. While everyone REALLY misses her, they are a wee bit glad that she kept her germs at her house!

I’d forgotten what a huge city Toronto is compared to Moncton. I’d also forgotten just how small the CN tower makes me feel!

This festival is the most INCREDIBLE experience because you are literally surrounded by Creativity for the whole day! I’ve seen the most amazing beaded, knitted and quilted outfits that I’ve been longing to go up and touch, half drying or half completed class projects being carried carefully by their creators as they head to their next adventure and enough craft supplies to send me into fits of “I need to have that!” I’ve been good actually... I’ve also been teaching most of the time! The only purchase that I did justify yesterday between classes and my lecture was this yarn. It’s been REALLY cold here in Toronto and the taxi showed up just early enough in Moncton that I forgot to grab one of my scarves to bring with me. Yeah... that sounds like a convincing excuse...

Despite having to juggle things, change things and adapt, all of my presentations have gone well so far. I’ve spent time with amazing, creative people and also had fun just playing. Yesterday was the joint “Tiny Dragon” class where Teresa and I both designed little dragons over one to “torture” them with.

One creative stitcher even brought along some of my Gemstone Dragons that she’d stitched OVER ONE backstitched with BLENDING FILAMENT!

They looked amazing and I felt so honoured that someone loved those dragons enough to work on them that small.

I did a lecture called The Perfection Trap that reminded stitchers not to point out all their mistakes to others or strive for impossible standards and then went on to teach my Hoarding Your Creativity class. What fun we had!! I’d made a bunch of Inspiration tags before leaving home with the ShrinkyDinks film (I just LOVED this stuff as a kid!). If you haven’t played with it recently, go find some at a craft store and tuck it away for a day when you want to play.

That was really what made the last class go by so quickly. I was inspiring them and sharing why it was important for Creative people to have a book or box in which to hoard things they find that spark their creativity from quotes to scraps, images to ideas and photos to textures. Everyone got so caught up in playing on that deep level that children know instinctively that the time just flew by. Before we knew it, we were cleaning up and I was heading back to the hotel to snip more floss and chase beads around on the carpet. That’s another entry.

INHALE: We sometimes forget how important it is to surround ourselves with other creative people. They may not all create the same things that you do, the same types of objects or crafts that you like, but when you are with other creative people, it recharges you in a special way because you don’t feel as alone. We cannot create in a vacuum.

EXHALE: Whatever craft you love most or whatever creativity you have just discovered, find out if there is a gathering, a special day, a class or a retreat that you could attend in the next few months so that you could take a large block of time to spend not only doing something creative but also surround yourself with other creative people. I know that even though this festival can be tiring, it is also way more INSPIRING!!

Surrounded by Creativity...

2009-10-17T09:10:00.000-03:00

I’d forgotten what a huge city Toronto is compared to Moncton. I’d also forgotten just how small the CN tower makes me feel!

One creative stitcher even brought along some of my Gemstone Dragons that she’d stitched OVER ONE backstitched with BLENDING FILAMENT!

They looked amazing and I felt so honoured that someone loved those dragons enough to work on them that small.

I did a lecture called The Perfection Trap that reminded stitchers not to point out all their mistakes to others or strive for impossible standards and then went on to teach my Hoarding Your Creativity class. What fun we had!! I’d made a bunch of Inspiration tags before leaving home with the ShrinkyDinks film. If you haven’t played with it recently, go find some at a craft store and tuck it away for a day when you want to play.

Moment of Truth...

2009-10-15T00:17:00.000-03:00

The phone rang this morning at 6 am, a few hours before I left for the airport to fly to Toronto . On the other end of the phone was the barely recognizable voice of one of my best friends telling me that she wouldn’t be able to get on the plane to teach with me at the CreativFestival . What had started as a cold earlier in the week turned into the worst kind of flu and she was in no condition to leave home to board a plane... she could barely talk to me. I tried to tell her that everything would be OK and to get some rest or get to see a doctor. It wasn’t until I hung up the phone and clung to Nick that the panic set in along with the little inner voice screaming “How on earth am I going to do this?”

Then, a funny thing happened. I just began to take deep breaths. Inhale... Exhale... Inhale... Exhale. In that moment of focussing on my breathing to calm myself, the ideas began to flow of how I could adapt Sunday’s Power point Breakfast presentation, of who might be able to help cover Teresa’s part of our joint classes, of how she might be able to get her files to me and lots of other insights buzzing like bees in a hive. I knew in that moment that taking this year to focus on Inhaling Creativity was not only teaching me unexpected truths, it was helping me cope better with uncertainty in a creative manner.

By the time I got on the plane and hauled out my journal, I was reasonably calm. By the time I shared with show organizers what had happened, I had some backup plans. By the time I met up with Erica, I knew I had a Guardian Angel helping out who was inhaling and exhaling Creativity herself. Just look at the beautiful breakfast goodie basket she’d made up for Teresa and I! (OK... to all of my Weight Watcher members following this blog, I do know that some of those nummy rolls with have to find homes with other people since I am the only one in this hotel room!)

I even found another advantage to kicking around in this hotel room all by myself, missing Teresa and hoping she will feel better soon... I get to cover the other bed with all my kitting stuff as I sort and snip and get ready to start teaching tomorrow.

I will miss her! Get Well Soon, Teresa!!!

INHALE: You can’t stop the panic that happens when life throws you a curve ball. I am learning this each time something unexpected happens on this adventure. Part of what makes it so much worse for many of us is that we have this built-up template in our head of how things are SUPPOSED to happen. When life or reality fail to measure up to that template, some of us freeze, panic or get really bent out of shape. Others, like Nick, work in an industry where every day brings the unexpected. Teachers, emergency room staff, firemen, police, taxi drivers... there are many professions where each day or each client can bring something totally unexpected into the mix, so they learn how to adapt and think Creatively better than most of us. Don’t measure everything to some PERFECT ideal. Just let it be and think of any creative solutions you can without giving up. Then watch as it unfolds into something new.

EXHALE: Take 10 minutes to explore an area of your life in which you tend to expect PERFECTION from yourself. Does this add more stress to your life than enjoyment? Does it really have to be done to the standard that you’ve set for yourself? If the answer is YES, then write down 3 ways you could reward yourself once the task is done. If the answer is NO, then write down 3 ways that you could lighten your load slightly, adapt your standards without throwing them away altogether or come up with a Creative solution that won’t leave you feeling like you just didn’t measure up. After all... Pobody’s Nerfect!

Creative Thankfulness...

2009-10-13T00:18:00.001-03:00

I love to bake. Every year for Thanksgiving, I make both apple and pumpkin pies from scratch. This year, Erin asked if she could help. There’s something special about hands-on creativity. I remember learning from my grandmother and this time I became the teacher. She helped take pictures as I got the dough ready.

As pretty as pumpkin pie is in colour, poured into a pie shell it looks rather plain.

A few years ago, I saw a photo spread of a Thanksgiving meal where the baker had cut maple leaves out of pie crust to place in the centre of the pie. Of course, since Aikman means “Men of Oak”, I’ve done oak leaves and acorns on our family pie ever since. Cutting out the shapes from pie crust is rather fun...

and the results are so magical once the pie is cooked.

Bethany helped peel all of the apples for her favourite pie.

With our pies cooling on the counter, we switched to fixing the supper meal for last night in celebration of my Dad and Barb arriving for Canadian Thanksgiving. We made a party sushi mound known as chirashizushi. Using shrimp, avocado, tamago, cucumber, lobster and salmon that Nick’s mother brought back from visiting his brother in Prince Rupert, it was a feast for the eyes as well as the taste buds!

Erin even got creative with the napkins... (Hmmm! Maybe Creativity is contagious after all!)

Tonight, after a wonderful day of memories and great food, I am THANKFUL for Creativity!

INHALE: There is something powerful about creating BEAUTY with your food before we consume it. That’s one area where the North American culture falls sadly short of many others in the world who understand that they eyes can be nourished along with the stomach! We need to celebrate the art and creativity that can flourish on our plates if we take just a few moments to add that extra touch.

EXHALE: Experiment with how you lay your food on the plate. Let your kids make their own pizza faces on english muffins, try putting as many colours of the rainbow as possible in your salad bowl, fold your napkins and add a sticker to them. Creativity can be experienced in large and small ways. I no longer begrudge the extra time, I savour the way it seems to recharge something deep inside me when people let out an appreciative sigh as they stare at the plate. No one can do this every night, but the next time you have company or share a special family meal, add a little creativity in your presentation and see what happens...

Being Thankful for Orange...

2009-10-10T22:51:00.000-03:00

Getting ready for a show always narrows my focus. I get fixated on tiny details, scatter floss and other kit parts about the house in various piles and get slightly short with my family over the silliest things. Then I go away to teach and they miss me, so they are glad when I come home again.

This year, I am at least more away of trying to live Creatively and adapt to changing situations. My dad is coming for a visit all the way from Tulsa, but called this morning to say they’d run into more traffic than they anticipated on the drive past New York City. So, they will be here tomorrow instead of tonight. I’d planned the turkey meal for Monday just in case...

I got our table ready anyway, since this is the Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada. Guess what colours I used to fill the two bowls around the candles? Oranges, yellows and browns. I even found a package of little plastic acorn shapes in those 3 colours on sale at Michael's for 70% off.

This year, I am actually thankful for the colour Orange... among many other things.

INHALE: It is easy to get busy in our crazy, hectic world. Finding time for yourself to follow a path like this can be REALLY tricky! But there are always lots of moments to think that I considered a “waste” before; in lines, waiting for someone, standing in the shower, drifting off to sleep, stirring a pot on the stove... all moments to THINK about creative challenges or possibilities. Instead of overlooking those tiny moments, gather them up like grains of sand. You just might be surprised at how fast they can add up to a sand castle!

EXHALE: Find a bowl to use as a centerpiece and fill it will things in the colour or colours that you were wrestling with. You can use bits of fabric, yarn, paper or anything that grabs your fancy, as long as it includes the colours you feel most challenged about. Take a picture of the bowl. Live with it on your table for a few days and see if you don’t become rather fond of how it looks. You may actually miss the centerpiece when you finally change it.