Day 138: Creative parties and pictures

So, the other day I went round my friends house for, I guess you could call it a party. It wasn't your traditional student party with booze and loud music. Oh no, it was far more safisticated than that.

We spent the evening watching Disney movies and colouring in! It was great! It took me right back to being a kid again. I used to spend hours colouring and drawing. It would seem that not much has changed.

We watched Matilda, which is an incredibly creative story (hats off to you Mr Dahl) and made those swirlly pattern pictures. You know the ones where you take your pencil for a walk on the page and then colour in the sections? Well anyway, it was heeps of fun and I really enjoyed being creative with my friends who I wouldn't normally be creative with.

I also feel like I put my own mark on the old favourite. Instead of colouring each section in one colour, I added paterns too. I feel like I have advanced from my five year old self, even if just a little bit! Here are my much loved pattern pictures:

Psychodelic huh!

Move the page up and down with your curser and see them mooove!

My hope is that this will inspire you to have a party with a difference. Invite your friends round for a DVD and a colour. Boys, maybe you could watch and draw zombies instead of princesses, but whatever takes your fancy...

Give it a go. Creativity is all about having fun!

Day 137: Songathon

Isn't it funny how you find things out. Since I've started doing this blog, I've found so many other cool creative stuff that's going on around the world. So exciting. It's beginning to take over my whole life, I tell you!

Today I want to share yet another amazingly creative person with you. He's called Jonathan Mann and he writes a song everyday and posts it on the internet, complete with a video. Here's a brief histpry of this man:



So check out his video for today (or any day, really) on his website or his You Tube page.

I told you, creativity is taking over the world!

Day 136: The Future

At the moment I am loving being creative. I write, I get to teach and encourage others to write and share in other people writing too. I also love knitting when I can, making cards, painting...and you know what, I am really enjoying what I am doing. Creativity is a part of me and I can't help but use it.

BUT, at the moment I am spending a lot of my time worrying about the future. I'm in my final year of uni now and the scary thing is, I don't know what happens next. Yes, I've got a few ideas and things I'd like to happen, but what if they don't...then what...?

Do you ever get like that? Does the future scare you and you spend a lot of time worrying about it?

Well, I want to encourage you to take up this new philosophy I'm trying out, which is...not to worry! Sounds easy, right?

A wise friend told me that the future will take care of itself. So I'm trying to just enjoy the creative things I'm doing now and let the future worry about itself! Are you with me? We all agree that creativity is great so we should enjoy it now!

Go! Do something creative and live in this moment.

Enjoy, live ,breath creativity and the rest is history...you'll see!

Day 135: Creative Rescue

Here's a quick question to start the day off:

Imagine the world is going to end in two weeks. YOU could save it and everyone on it with ONE creative talent, but only if everyone on the planet learns it fast! What would you choose and how could it save the human race?

Go...

Day 134: Rainbows

Today has been grotty. One of those days where it feels like it’s about five in the evening constantly, the clouds are so dark and foreboding. Yuk, is all I can say. Rain has been falling on and off all day and don’t my socks know about it!

So, naturally, I chose to get the bus home from town, rather than risk another down pour. You know when you have one of those busy days where you haven’t stopped and everything seems a bit gloomy? There really is nothing that could perk you up. Well, that’s my day.

Anyway, as the bus tootled on down Upper Bristol Road through puddles and drops of rain, I saw a group of lads all looking up at the sky behind me, but I didn’t think much of it. Then we drove past a mum with a toddler in a pushchair. She too was pointing up at the sky behind me and her cute little kid in a bobble hat had a massive smile on her face.

At this point I was thinking, what the heck is going on behind me, so I turned. There in the sky was the brightest rainbow I’d ever seen. As it went up, it disappeared behind a dark cloud, out of sight, like it was just peeping to say hello.

Aren’t rainbows amazing? They completely lift a dark day. But I was thinking...if the day had not been so rubbish, would it make people as happy?

I think the thing about rainbows is their timing. When it’s dark and rainy, a quick burst of sunshine will bring out a rainbow and brighten everyone’s mood. Good old nature inspiring us all once again.

Timing. How do you use it in your creative work? Something to think about, maybe...?

Day 133: On cloud 9...

Check out my word cloud! It's the first chapter of my new story, The Secret in a jumble. What a great way to see what words you've used most often. Apparently, 'get' is my most commonly used word. How not exciting! I still think it looks pretty cool though.

For some reason it's not very big on my blog, but click here to see it in all it's glory.

Have a go at making your own cloud on Wordle. You could use you own writing or maybe a chapter from your favourite book. Use something online you find interesting like a article and see what words they use. I had loads of fun choosing the colours, font, word formation....you can make it your own.

See what words are in your cloud...

Day 132: The sound of...music

Today I found myself walking back to my house in the beautiful sunshine. It was lovely. But, I had a headache (not so nice). If you're familiar with headaches, you can imagine that the bright sunlight made it worse, so I was forced to look at the floor for most of my journey.

You know what? Looking at the floor made me concentrate on things other that what I saw, which was amazing! So often I notice visual stuff and fail to notice what's going on with my other senses.

So, just for you, here are all of the things I heard on my journey home:

As I walked down the road I caught snippets of conversations through open windows and down alleys. The crunch of broken glass beneath my feet put me on edge. Traffic rumbled in the distance, interrupted by a screeching song bird and another and another. The traffic turned into a roar as I approach the busy road and all other sound was lost, except the high pitch alarm of a shop unattended on a Sunday morning. Eventually I moved away, down a side street and the crackle of autumn leaves sounded refreshing in comparison. My own trousers swished, almost in rhythm with my breathing, in and out, in and out. The local radio blared out from somewhere and the rattle of keys round the corner told me I was nearly there. My gate creaked on its hinges and I was home.

So, there you have it, a journey in sound. Have a go the next time you leave your house. What will tickle your ears on your travels...?