Collections are a great way of jump starting and sparking your creativity. I have come to realize that I am a collector. My collections range from: rocks, to stationery, to art, to pens, to books. The image above is part of a collection of hearts that I have been gathering over a series of years. Any time I find something that catches my eye, I add it to the collection. Included in this collection are two books: This is For You by Rob Ryan and Heart Stones by Josie Iselin. Some heart stones that I have collected from Lake Tahoe and two painted ones that I found on a shopping excursion. Cards, stationery and party supplies also become a source of inspiration for me and as you can see have been added to this grouping.

I also have a pin board called All for Love where I gather images with hearts or items that speak to me about love. This is a really large board that I have been gathering and adding items to for about a year and a half. In one of my next posts I will share my favourites from the board.

One of my favourite books on collections is by artist, Lisa Congdon. For a year she photographed all the collections on a blog called Collection a Day. Her photos were then turned into a book by Uppercase.

So how do you start a collection? Find something you love and begin to gather items that speak to you in some form or another. As your collection grows organize them in a way that is appealing to you, take a photograph (as Lisa did), draw a sketch and place them somewhere that you can admire them everyday.

What kind of collections do you have? How do arrange them? If you have photos provide a link in the comments. I’d love to see them.

Have a great day.

In my quest to find more creativity in my own life, I tend to look towards books. I have a passion for reading all sorts of books – from fiction, to art, to non-fiction – you name it; if it’s good I will take a look.

Today, I am going to share a list of 5 go to books on creativity that are on my desk, next to my bed and on the bookcase in my office.

1. The Creative License by Danny Gregory; if you remember back to the post 10 minutes for creativity, I mentioned this book.

2. Water Paper Paint – Exploring Creativity with Watercolor and Mixed Media by Heather Smith Jones; It has lots of great tips and projects to try and the artwork in the book is really inspiring.

3. Inspiration Sandwich by SARK; This was one of the first books I ever purchased about creativity and I go to it whenever I need a little boost. SARK has written numerous books so if you cannot find this one there are plenty out there that share her unique message.

4. Living Out Loud by Keri Smith; All of the books by Keri Smith are smart, creative and most importantly FUN. This one gives you quick ideas and fold out pages which makes it a dose of creativity in your hands.

5. Art Escapes by Dori Kanter; another book that has been in my library for many years. It has great tutorials and projects. One of my favorites are the 1 minutes sketches.

Take a moment to seek these out if you are visiting a bookstore. You can download many of them on a kindle or nook but I personally like to have the book in my hand so I can touch and feel and see the pages up close. Enjoy exploring and please share any books that you might enjoy in the comments.

Have a great day…

This is the last post in a series about finding time for creativity in your life. If you wish to read previous posts you can link to them below:

making space for creativity

part one: scheduling creativity into your daily life

part two: 10 minutes of creative time

part three: carve out a creative space

part four: shopping for supplies

and if you have enjoyed this series of posts you can also still sign up to receive weekly tips on jump-starting your creativity for more in-depth projects and help along your own journey.

Today, brings me to one of my favorite parts of creativity. Organizing your creative space with all those supplies you have either gathered from home or shopped for on your field trip to an art store. Here is a list of 10 items and some links to some of my favorites to help get you started.

1. clip board (3 or 6 or 9 look great holding inspirational art, paper, or photographs) for an idea of how to arrange them see this photo from apartment therapy; you can purchase simple ones at office depot, target or any office supply store or look for something that speaks to your own special style.

2. wall clips; there are so many options here depending upon your creative style; I like to use large binder clips and attach them to my bulletin boards; they hold fabric that inspires me and artwork I am using for my projects. In addition clips can be used to hold containers for your pencils, pens and paint brushes as you would see on minted condition.

3. scissor storage as seen in this space by artist Lotta Jansdotter

4. bins; bins come in many shapes and sizes; I try to find covered and uncovered storage options for my own supplies; right now I really love these ones on Serena and Lily and these on wisteria.

5. colored containers; this is a fun way to match your pencils, pens, markers etc. and provides that little extra color splash for your space. Some fun containers can be found at westelm, anthropologie and seejanework.

6. cupcake holders; this idea came to me via pinterest via Sarah Smithson and found from Jenny B. of Allsorts and is a great way to store beads, buttons, small bits for your designs and adds a colorful touch to your space.

7. milk glass cups; found also via pinterest. Milk glass is quite popular at the moment and can be found at many antique stores and markets. I love the patterns and coloration of the glass.

8. lidded clear storage; I use bins from container store and target with a label on the front to organize many different products in my studio. What I love about this type of storage is that it stacks, doesn’t take up much space, you can see what’s inside and the lid keeps the items stored from getting dusty. I label the front of the bins with what is inside so that everything can stay organized.

9. magazine holders; my go to for magazine holders is: semikolon; I use the black ones and have 14 of them on my bookcase to keep magazines, inspiration files, teaching materials and product catalogs stored so they can be used at a moments notice.

10. a fun vase for paint brushes; I store my paint brushes in a fun vase that was given to me by a friend. Here are some that I have found recently…west elm, anthropologie and shop terrain.

What types of organization do you use in your studio? I’d love to know. Feel free to leave a list in the comments or a link to your blog so others can be inspired.

Have a great day…..

ALT Summit 2012….4 Days in Salt Lake City at the Grand America Hotel; 38 pages of notes; 3 keynote addresses; 2 evenings of parties and not much sleep = one happy, overloaded with information, completely inspired person.

(the girls with glasses and pinhole press party)

In one talk about successful collaborations, Joslyn Taylor of Simple Lovely said: “women banded together make powerful stuff”..I believe this and throughout the week can truly say I met some amazing women and men that I want to share with you here…If you have a moment stop by their blogs and websites and see what they are up to….there are some pretty creative things happening out in the world that we should all get excited about.

First and foremost, reconnecting with Marisa from Creative Thursday…always inspiring and always makes me feel like I have a long lost sister. Thx Marisa

Victoria Hudgins of a subtle revelry; a new introduction in the taxi cab from the airport and a new Reno resident…sweet, creative and down to earth…Welcome to Reno, Victoria.

Hello… Dottie..another of my taxi cab mates who blogs at modernkiddo.com with her friend and third cab mate, Alix. These ladies were fun..just check out their blog you will see why….

EZ from creature comforts….who I have wanted to meet for a long time and truly enjoyed. She is a lovely person with a great sense of style and graciousness.

Catherine Just of Catherine Just Photography; my words to describe Catherine are “female  “; we sat next to one another at lunch and talked like we had known each other forever. Our shared friend, as we found out, Andrea Scher…. we promptly sent a photo of the two of us to her as she painted in Mexico with Flora Bowley.

Tracey Clark of Shutter Sisters and Big Picture Classes. I have taken a few courses with Tracey that I have shared with you on this site over the last year and a half and was excited to meet her in person. Tracey, Catherine and I took a photo together that you can see on my instagram feed in the sidebar to the right of the post. Tracey was as kind and down to earth as she is in her courses and a pleasure to meet in person.

Megan Auman – roomie of my dear friend Brigitte Lyons; Megan is currently creating a video a day that she shares on her blog along with her incredible hand made jewelry. Samantha Barsky of noteify also roomed with these two. Samantha creates awesome handmade cards and paper products and is based in San Francisco.

Samantha Melvin a 4th and 5th grade art teacher that really inspired me during our conversations. While we were at ALT Samantha shared that she had won the National Arts Educator of the Year Award….

(art credit: fifiduvie; sponsored gift: cargoh)

I received this piece of art from fifduvie in a gift provided by cargoh at one of the lunches. These words really spoke to me and in describing the next people I met, truly bring adventurers to mind when I think of them.

Bradford Crowder founder of The Bedlam of Beefy. Bradford was kind and generous and knew my name….He also checked on me as I was worried about the fires here in Reno while I was gone. A true gentleman (thanks for being so kind, Bradford)

and last but certainly not least….the founders of Kinfolk Magazine, Nathan and Amanda. I was blown away by the creative genius behind this magazine and the generous and down to earth persona of both these individuals. It was a pleasure to meet you both and to view your incredible magazine.

(artists from minted)

In addition to the people I met, the speakers were top notch as well. A keynote from Ben Silberman of Pinterest; a lesson in videography from The Girls with Glasses Show and making art with sycamore street press were highlights of my time at ALT.

For me, while talking about the internet, blogging and business the main theme I gathered  is to be yourself, share unique content and a unique voice and most importantly something I have always believed in:

“In design, people want the person” – Maxwell, Apartment Therapy.

Get out there and meet your audience…..

Have a great week everyone and I personally can’t wait until my next trip to ALT…..

2012 has arrived officially and we are now 1 and a half weeks into the new year. Last week I was on vacation in my home town of Chicago and really tried hard to put aside all technology for the week and enjoy friends and family. It was truly a relaxing and enjoyable week. During the week I was able to reflect upon the past year and think about my goals for the upcoming year, 2012. Do you reflect on your previous year and give yourself a pat on the back and a celebration of your accomplishments? I have learned over time that this is a very important practice especially when you are in business for yourself. No one will do it for you, so you must embrace it and CELEBRATE!

My word for last year was REST. I truly did that as much as I could and realized how important that is in my life moving forward. I feel that I have become better at allowing myself to take rest and enjoy my restful time.

In addition to rest, I truly ventured outside my box this year with new and exciting business ventures, painting courses and photography. I participated in the 2011 Sketch Book Project and my personal sketchbook traveled around the US with approximately 10,000 books from around the world. I painted and completed (4) paintings with Mati and Lisa through Get Your Paint On and have three more paintings started with a second round of classes. I developed my photography skills, through Super Hero Photos and Andrea Scher and also with August Break 2011 with Susannah Conway. On the business side of things my photography is receiving lots of local exposure through art fairs and online in my shop; I am also beginning to create some custom jewelry pieces with my original photography thanks to support of my friends Jen and Liz.

My most outstanding accomplishment of the year would have to be the inaugural year of Create Explore Discover Art Retreat. A culmination of 25+ years in the interior design field allowed me to combine all my disciplines and planning skills and develop a retreat that will be a solid force in the coming years. The location, the teachers and most importantly the participants left energized and excited for a little creativity and adventure in their lives and enjoyed a great weekend away in one of the US’s best kept secrets – Lake Tahoe.

As I move into 2012 my mind is shifting to the word HOPE. Hope means many things to me but most importantly it conjures up thoughts of doing amazing things for amazing people and giving back to a community that really is at the heart of this word. I hope you will join me on a journey of HOPE in 2012, step outside your box, help another achieve hope in their own lives and most importantly enjoy the process while doing so.

It is my honor and pleasure to have such wonderful, creative and spiritual people in my world and I am truly blessed to have so much support around me. Here’s to HOPE and joy in 2012!

This is Part Four in a series on making space for creativity. To read previous posts please click on the links below:

making space for creativity

part one: scheduling creativity into your daily life

part two: 10 minutes of creative time

part three: carve out a creative space

Our focus today will be shopping! If you are anything like me, you will love shopping for art supplies. Just entering an art supply store makes me giddy. It over stimulates my senses and makes me feel like a kid again. Sometimes I have a list but most times, I go just to explore and see where the aisles lead me.

The other way I shop, is within my own art supplies. I have all sorts of papers, ribbons, paints, markers, pencils, embroidery thread, journals, knitting supplies…You name it , I probably have it. Every now and then I will take out a box that maybe I have tucked away and I will find its all new again. What’s great about this is the fact that it is all free. No money spent but new ideas and items you can use on your creative journey.

With that said, sometimes you will need a few things to complete or start a project. Below is a list of my go to places to find art supplies, materials and products for creating. This by no means will be a complete list, so if you have any you would like to add please do so in the comments. I will divide the places into categories for you:

General Art Supplies

Dick Blick – very reasonable pricing,  an incredible assortment of product; if shopping online- ships quickly

Flax Art and Design – a beautiful art supply store in San Francisco; Expensive but huge array of handmade papers and other paper products

Pearl Fine Art Supplies – Pearl has been my go to art supply store as long as I can remember.

Fabric

The Purl Bee a beautiful fabric shop in SoHo.

jessica swift fabulous fabrics, creative, colorful and fun

marisa anne my friend from Creative Thursday – whimsical fabrics and embroidery patterns

Stationery and Papers

Kates Paperie one of my favorite paper stores in New York

Paper Source my go to shop for all things paper, stamps and creative products

Bell’occhio a beautiful French shop that carries ribbon, paper, letterpress and gift products.

These should cover some basics and also a little treat here and there. Remember to take one of your days and make a shopping trip out of it. Whether online, in your own supplies or in person, it is a fun, creative way to bring a few items out to help you get ready to create. don’t forget you can also sign up for creativity to go and receive a dose of creativity to help you along your journey. Enjoy!

This post is part three in a series on making space for more creativity in your life. If you would like to reference the first three posts they are available through the links below:

making space for creativity

part one: scheduling creativity into your daily life

part two: 10 minutes of creative time

Today we will be discussing how to carve out a creative space for yourself somewhere in your world. There are several elements that your creative space will need:

1. a location: this location can be anywhere in your home or even a corner of your workstation if you want it where you work. For the benefit of this article we will focus on the home office or studio space.

2. a worksurface. designate a space for your creative time. In my own office/studio, I have three areas of surface to work on…computer work; creative work and printing/assembling.

3. a chair. I also have three chairs; one at each station. This allows me to move easily between each area without having to move furniture around. Also, if I wanted to have other creatives work in the same space I would be able to do so easily.

4. storage for supplies. Open or closed storage for supplies or a combination of both. I like to have things like pencils, pens, paints and paint brushes at my fingertips so they are in containers on my worksurface. All other items are stored close by so that they are easily accessible.

5. storage for books/magazines. Every creative space needs storage for reference material.

6. an inspirational bulletin board. gather items that speak to you creatively and place them somewhere you can look at them all the time. I also have a rotating board that changes over time based upon my interests or inspirations at a certain moment in time.

and finally,

7. artwork. no matter how big or small your creative spot is…it needs artwork that reflects your own personal style. Artwork can be as simple as postcards you may have collected to as elaborate as your own creative creations.

If you would like to gather some of your own inspiration of creative spaces sign up through the link to receive my weekly newsletters for creatives. In addition, I have created a board on Pinterest called all about the home office where I share spaces, accessories and fun tools to use in your own creative space.

What can you do with 10 minutes of creative time? Today, I am going to give you a list of 10 creative things you can do with 10 minutes. That simple, just a list to get your creative juices flowing and some links to help you get there. To read other posts on creativity you can go to creating space and Part One: Scheduling Creativity into Your Daily Life or for a daily dose of creativity.

1. 10 minutes of free writing. Sit for 10 minutes with a journal, piece of paper or notebook. Set the timer for 10 minutes and just write whatever comes to your mind.

2. Get the Book: The Creative License by Danny Gregory. Read pages: 13-17.

3. Grab your camera or phone (with a camera); go on a walk and take photos of things that interest you.

4. Peruse a creative magazine. Pick up a creative magazine and just look at the pages. Two of my favorites: Uppercase and Anthology

5. Write a short poem. My friend Silvi writes poems in 3 minutes or less. She is amazing. Pick a word and write what it means to you.

6. Rearrange a bulletin board or space in your office. Grab some inspirational pieces; paint, fabric, postcards, artwork, quotes and create something refreshing that you can look at each day.

7. Play a favorite childhood game. One of my kids favorites is: Spot It.

8. Create a very small piece of art. Sometimes I like to create small as it gives me a quick sense of accomplishment. Here is one of my  “small pieces”…

9. Arrange your markers, pens or pencils. Grab some unique containers and sort  by color. Start with pencils.

10. Take 10 minutes to rest and breath. I have been doing this every day for the last month and it brings such clarity to the rest of your day. Clears your head and makes room for creativity.

Most importantly, ENJOY!

In my last post, I introduced to you, the idea of providing space for creativity in your daily, busy life and how that in order to do that, like everything else we must create time to do it.

So today we will take a look at how you schedule creativity into your daily life.

Part of scheduling creativity into you daily life is having the courage to do so. It is saying to yourself that I need and want this time and I am willing to give it a go and try it.

Oliver Wendell Holmes once said: “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” My take on this that given the right opportunity, the right circumstances and the right tools, we as human beings are able to achieve a great many things. How does this relate to creativity? I believe everyone is creative in some form or another and that it is just a matter of defining what that creative piece is for you and you alone and then determining how it becomes a part of your life.

I have a very close group of friends that are runners. They schedule running into their daily lives, they schedule a goal with their running so that they have an end in mind and are able to see the fruits of their labor when they reach their goal. This in my mind is a form of creativity. It is possessing something that you want to do inside, just for you, making a goal and progressing at a pace that works for you with a solid end in mind.

You can essentially follow this same step with an artful form of creativity. What I challenge you to do for the month of January, is to set aside time, time for you to create.

1. Get a planner (if you have not purchased a planner or would like something fun and creative to track your progress, I use two different methods for my planning – one is a spiral bound life planner that you can purchase through erincondren.com- I am able to bring this with me where ever I go; and the other is a very large planner that I can have up in my studio at all times; it can be purchased through paper-source.)

2. Map out the month of January. What do I mean by that? Take a look at each day of your week and add 10 minutes of creativity into your day somewhere. You control the time, no one else does and that is the beauty of it.

3. Watch this video. (Its only 3 minutes so you still have 7 minutes to create)

4. Commit to one month. Make a commitment with yourself, your planner and if you need to add a written acknowledgement to yourself, do so in the comments of this post.

5. Plan a treat for yourself on January 31, 2012. The treat can be anything you want it to be. It can be a simple as a walk in the park but it needs to be a celebration of your achievement and you need to schedule it with yourself. If you commit in this post and come back on January 31 and tell me what you have done, I will have a special treat for one of you celebrating your milestone.

6. Don’t forget to sign up for redlinedesign® – creativity to go to help you on your month long journey.