Imagine the possibilities with me for a minute! What is a way you LOVED to create as a kid?
- Love playing outside and building forts with sticks and mud pies?
- Come alive cutting and gluing paper?
- Enjoy the heck out of painting free and big?
- Play with blocks or legos for hours?
- Was rearranging or redecorating your room the normal?
Chances are the way you enjoyed creating as a kid you will still enjoy today!
I know for me, growing up in a family of nine kids there were always DIY projects going on.
Recently, I have been thinking a lot about how expensive raising nine kids must have been for my parents. As my kids grow, it feels like it just keeps getting more expensive. Our oldest is learning to drive, and we all remember when we first caught wind of a brand we liked. Not just any pair of shoes always works anymore. I know my parents had to be thrifty to make our world work because I was so blessed and never went without. Being resourceful has been modeled for me.
I remember when my parents expanded our house. With nine kids, we outgrow the size house we had. The addition brought saw dust and scrap wood components to our lives. To this day, I still enjoy working with scraps.
Art doesn’t have to be expensive. We all have little things that we can reuse. For me, wood scraps has always been something I used, so to this day, I save them. The texture, possibilities of small pieces, and options of several things coming together to make something new is something I have always loved. Wood is a great material for all of those things to happen in the creative process.
Now, it’s no secret that I love to create in LOTS of ways. But, for many of us the ways we created as young kids can still be enjoyed years later or maybe the way we choose to create changes as we change.
Do you remember how you love to create? Has it changed?
Let me encourage you to imagine the possibilities.
Imagine trying that childhood creative process again that you loved so many years ago. Or, if you know of a new way you love to create imagine how you would feel if you took thirty minutes to do that activity this week?
We both know that your heart, mind, and soul will be better for that time of being FREE and using your hands.
I miss encouraging others in their creative process. It’s been a year, since we decided to close our art studio. So, as I was playing with some wood scraps, I dreamed up a kit with a lesson that I could share with all of you. If you need an extra nudge to get creative and imagine the possibilities, join me for this LIVE class one week from today. I will walk you through using these wood scraps to create a playful wood mobile. There will be a replay video, so if you miss the live. You can watch the tutorial replay back at a more convenient time.
Snatch up your kit to let me encourage YOU and your creative process. We will paint. Playing with order and design will definitely happen. Yarn will be wrapped. Of course, we will celebrate options and diversity. It will be so fun!
My hope for those that snatch up this creative kit (and for you on your creative journey) is that after playing with new materials and tools you feel a little more empowered in believing in yourself, knowing you can make good decisions, and trusting that how you think matters.
The creative process is a window into what’s going on inside us.
We find that inner discovery in playing, and pulling out of the expected. Keep playing. Keep creating. You never out grow the need to create.
Recently, I was asked if turning 40 was harder or easier than turning 30. This made me pause and wonder more what I was thinking about my 40th birthday, and I am excited to put those thoughts into words with all of you. Life is a journey and as Peter Pan says, “to live will be an awfully big adventure.” How cool I’ve now been adventuring for 40 years.
One of the biggest lies and fears I had when closing the studio was how it felt like I was going backwards. At the time, I was being asked, messaged, and emailed regularly about how to open an art studio. I processed and responded to these requests the best I could, but I always was thinking “whoa, I’m not sure. I’m still trying”.
I’m Feeling Free on This 40th Birthday
To celebrate my day, I wanted to adventure with my family. We tried to do a ropes course, but as northern Indiana would have it- most were closed already for the season. We opted to do an escape room, dinner out, and a Target run to celebrate my birthday on Saturday. While we were gone, a huge tree fell in our yard. Luckily, nothing was really hurt except the door to our fence.
In Moving Forwards, I am Largely Connecting with My Roots
In conclusion, turning 40 was much easier than turning 30. My 30’s were all about growing the life I now get to live. I grew kids, we fostered other kids, we moved hundreds of miles, we began a new business venture, and it was a very busy, exciting (while also exhausting) life. There was constant change.
