Thoughts on Creativity

Every week, I receive an outpouring of emails and access to incredibly creative people and projects on line. I bookmark my favorites and flag the favorite emails but never seem to move beyond my own personal creative stimulation with the items I find. Sometimes that’s fine but I also want to be able to share with my readers and provide you with some aha moments and creative stops that you can use to start your week:

1. The first comes from a fellow Playing Big student who blogs at Signs and Serendipity. I found her post on gratitude and mind maps a really interesting thought process and one I would like to try myself.gratefully speaking

2. I receive a weekly update from Susannah Conway that always, always leaves me with some wow, or aha moment. Her email is my favorite way to begin my weekend. This week she shared this video called The Violin Maker by Dustin Cohen. I just had to share it with you here. I will be adding to this story later this week as it sparked a special connection for me that needs sharing.

 

The Violin Maker from Dustin Cohen on Vimeo.

3. Stampington and Co. shared a story and project today that conveys part of my mission of redlinedesign®. March is National Youth Art Month and the project is for children, especially girls on creating a power plaque, or a way to reaffirm the strength that they create and bring to the world…(Part of my mission: sharing art, design and creativity with children in order to teach them the value of creativity in their lives)

I hope you enjoy these small jumpstarts to your creative week, have a great day everyone….

 

 

 

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Oh Darling, Let’s Be Adventurers – Fifi du Vie

Izabella Dennis is the creative genius behind Fifi du Vie, a screen printing shop and design studio that shared her pieces at last months ALT Summit. I was lucky enough to receive her print, Oh Darling, Lets Be Adventurers as my gift for attending one of the luncheons at the conference.  Izabella and I caught up recently to chat about her business, her thoughts on handmade products and their importance. In addition, we also discussed a little bit about her own story.

How did you come up with the name Fifi Du Vie for your business?

The name doesn’t actually mean anything. It just came to me one night. I like that it has kind of a sing-song quality to it. (pronounced fifi dooo veee) I went through a zillion names with actual meanings behind them and none felt as right as Fifi du Vie.

What are your thoughts on providing handmade designs and products to your customers and clients? Why do you feel that is important?

I believe that products, particularly those in your home, take on a personality. They become part of the sentimental and visual fabric of your life. I think that it’s valuable to have a connection to the designer and maker of pieces that become important to you. I love that handmade items are personal, a bit raw and each one is slightly difference. Furthermore, I feel that it is important to be an active part of your community, to foster its creativity and to support your local artists.

 

Tell me about your “story”…How did you get to be doing what you are doing today?

I grew up with very creative parents and was always making some kind of craft or art. I had considered it to be a passion, but not one that I would ever pursue as a career. After studying architecture in college and falling in love with both furniture and home decor, I went on to work in merchandising at several large retailers. My love of home products and clean design grew as I built up the knowledge and experience to market and sell. I had taught myself how to screen print in college for fun (I love learning new crafts and techniques! Right now, I am in the midst of woodworking classes.) and decided to start making prints for myself and friends. I started Fifi du Vie in April of 2010 as a side project and it ended up taking off. Six months later, I left my corporate job and dove in head first. It has been quite the adventure and would not have been possible without both my supportive, artistic upbringing and professional experience.

Who is inspiring you now?

Lately, I’ve been really inspired by Best Made Co and their very well curated assortment of products.

In the Fifi du Vie shop you can find typographic prints, tote bags and greeting cards all with a modern yet accessible aesthetic. All the products are original in design and, screen printed by hand using a photo emulsion process. All prints are limited editions and are signed and numbered by the artist.

The motto of Fifi du Vie is “Live Gorgeously” something all think we aspire to in some way….

Fifi du Vie can be found here:

shop: www.fifiduvie.com
twitter: @fifduvie

A special thank you to Izabella for sharing her thoughts today for Tea Time Thursday.

all photos for this article were contributed by Izabella Dennis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Welcome When I Grow Up Coach Readers

Today I am blogging over at When I Grow Up Coach. Special thanks to Michelle Ward for working with me on this post and for sharing our creative message with her readers.

Don’t Let your 9 to 5 Stall Your Creativity: Tips You Can Do Over Lunch

If you are stopping over from When I Grow Up Coach, WELCOME.

Making time for creativity can definitely be a difficult task when you are just starting out. By trying something for a limited time frame, you are giving yourself the discipline needed to begin and as you will see, it will eventually become habit.

Eric Maisel, Ph.D., in his book:The Creativity Book: A Year’s Worth of Inspiration and Guidance, talks about making creativity your religion. He says creativity can supplement already existing faith such as Catholicism or Buddhism or you can create your religion out of creativity. He also says: “…creating is soulful work. When a person loses herself in the creative act she suddenly participates in the mystery of life”. In order to create a religion or participate in the mystery of life, however, one must be willing to begin… So with the tips I shared on Michelle’s blog today I encourage you to just BEGIN….we are all beginners at various things in our lives and to begin again over and over I believe is part of this mystery of constantly defining yourself and living the life you were meant to live.

Have a great day everyone….

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Welcome to the new redlinedesign® website

After 18 months of design, copy writing and web coding, the new redlinedesign® website is finally here. The saying in the above photo is certainly true of this process for me. I have loved every minute of it and have quite a few people that I wish to thank for their support, their time and their friendship throughout the whole project.

First, Jo Klima of The Darling Tree. My work with Jo started in October of 2010 with small shop updates, new logo designs for Create Explore Discover and the culmination of all the design for this new site. Jo is incredibly creative and worked tirelessly on the other side of the world to make the site so beautiful. Thank you, thank you Jo this could not have been such an easy project with out you.

Second, Brigitte Lyons of Unfettered Ink. Brigitte and I met through several on line courses which led to receiving her help with copy writing and PR for Create Explore Discover. We have developed our friendship even more and our business relationship and she has been instrumental in constructing the copy and PR for the site. I have loved every minute of our working together and know it is just the beginning, so thank you Brigitte from the bottom of my heart.

Third, Ashley Russell and Aris Bevins of Team A Design. Ashley and Aris have taken the ideas created by Jo and I and developed them into a useable platform for all our users. Seamless project, hard work and all around fun experience define the experience working with Team A. Thank you for late nights and getting the work done….it means a great deal to me that you took such great pride in your work and our project.

Finally, a huge thank you to my family and friends for all your support, tweeting and facebooking about my business, coming to my programs and just being there…..you are all incredible and I love you dearly. I promise I am done asking you for things for the moment!

So everyone….”love what you do and it will love you back”….such a true statement and one that truly defines this project for my business.

Please let me know what you think of the site and have a fabulous Tuesday!

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Welcome Levo League Readers

We are visiting over at the Levo League today. Caroline and Elizabeth were kind enough to share my advice for artists just starting their careers so please stop by and read:

I Wish They’d told Me: Advice for Artists Just Starting Their Careers

If you are popping over from the Levo League, welcome to redlinedesign®. I blog here about three days a week on topics that include: creativity, art and design. If you are interested in jumpstarting your own creativity please take a look at: Ideas to Jumpstart Your Creativity; and definitely sign up for the redlinedesign® weekly creativity newsletter.

If you have any further comments or questions on my post at Levo League, please leave them below and I will certainly answer them for you.

Have a great day….

A special thanks to Caroline and Elizabeth for your enthusiasm about our post and for providing such a fun experience working together.

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Ideas to jumpstart your creativity: Starting a Collection

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.

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Jumpstarting Your Creativity in the Year of the Dragon

Source: allaboutami.tumblr.com via Jen on Pinterest photo by Stephanie of All about Ami

Yesterday I read an article for small business and entrepreneurs in the Reno Gazette Journal, our local paper. The article was written by Rhonda Abrams and discussed how the Year of the Dragon could translate into plans for your business this year.

According to Rhonda, “People born in the year of the dragon are likely to be leaders, who are active and powerful, take initiative and are creative…” Now, keep in mind she was speaking specifically of entrepreneurs in her article, but I felt it could be fun to take her concepts and push them a little further and see how I would translate them into creativity for your daily life.

1. Wealth: in the article this translated specifically into money; for our purposes, lets think of it in terms of the wealth of knowledge you can gain by doing something for yourself. You will relearn a basic component of human nature – taking care of yourself.

2. Ambition: are you living your dreams and following your passions? If not why?

3. Innovation: what creative ideas and new approaches do you have written down that you are dying to try?

4. Virtue: are you getting out there and sharing your own creativity with others? friends, children, family?

5. Harmony: are you working on balance in your every day life. Having something creative that nurtures you and makes you happy, in turn makes others around you happy…

6. Big Changes: take a chance on yourself and make a change in your life…try an art class, try doing something you haven’t done before. Explore, be an adventurer…….

Why not start with the little dragon at the top of the page….I found her on pinterest and the links lead you directly to the project….

I’d love to know how these concepts translate into your own life….

Have a great day…..

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5 Books to Jumpstart Your Creativity

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…

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