Creativity: Carmen of Life Blessons

Post 15 of HEIA: Creativity

If you haven't discovered Carmen's blog yet, it's about time you do. She's sweet, sincere, and shares her advice for newlyweds in a series called "Secrets of a Newlywed." But today, she's sharing how's she's creative and how all of us can implement creativity into our lives. Read on, friends:

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Hello! I’m Carmen, and I’m thrilled to be a part of Hannah’s series about creativity. I blog at Life Blessons, where I like to share what’s going on in my life—everything from what I’m learning in my faith to what I’m making for dinner. My blog is where I capture a lot of my creativity in action, whether that creativity is expressing itself in a an attempt to make my own bread, sew my clothes, create my own artwork, or write to my heart’s content.

And that’s the beautiful thing about creativity; I might be able to write and cook and craft, but you can sing and paint and dance. Creativity comes in so many forms and possibilities; there’s never an end to it!

Given all that, I thought for this series, I’d share some of the things that never fail to fuel my creativity, no matter what kind
of crafty project I'm taking on:

1.     Be resourceful. Last fall, my husband found a map of the U.S. and tacked it up on the wall, as a way for us to document all the places we’ve been together. Cute and sentimental, but the map was, well, kinda ugly. Seeing as we live on a pretty strapped budget, I wanted to do something about that without spending a bunch of dough. So I started to look around me… And I found an old painting, some old make-up brushes, some arts-and-crafts paints. Before long, I had all the supplies I needed to make a much cuter map, simply by repurposing ordinary objects we had around the house that likely would have been thrown away anyway. (Here’s the tutorial to how I made our Travel Map Corkboard.) Look around, and see what possibilities await!

2.     Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. I think this is especially true when it comes to crafting up your clothes, which is a favorite pastime of mine. A lot of people are afraid to cut and stitch their clothes. But the thing I’ve learned is that it’s pretty rare that I mess something up to the point where I can’t wear it. More often than not, my crafting tweaks—whether it’s simply shortening the straps of a too-low-scoop tank or cutting dresses in half—end up making me more likely to wear something than not. Start with something you hardly ever wear anymore and see if you can find a way to make it work for your wardrobe better. Here are some examples of a crafting wardrobe overhaul I did last winter.

3.      Go on, and try it yourself. I’ve started getting braver and braver in the kitchen, by looking at the stuff you’d normally buy in boxes and bags and bottles and starting with the simple question, “Can I make this myself?” By simply asking that question and doing some research, I’ve found that I usually can! A little trial and error comes into play, especially with recipes, but the pride that comes with knowing that you can make your own bagels or cosmetics or shampoo, is so worth it. Think about the things you use most often and then dig around a little and see what you come up with. You’ll be surprised!

I'd love to hear what things fuel your creative fires? Come over to Life Blessons, and say hello! Many thanks to Hannah for inviting me to join in and share a little bit about creativity in my life!





P.S. Want to add your voice to the discussion on creativity? E-mail me at hannahmoore2007 at hotmail dot com.